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Hindsight: Nebraska farmer wishes he had a jumpstart on planting
A Northeast Nebraska farmer says he’s second guessing the late start to the planting season.
Jim Miller tells Brownfield he’s about two weeks behind from cool and dry conditions. “As cold as it was there in April, we couldn’t get really excited about getting started. Hindsight, we should’ve been going when it was cold.”
He says his area was in extreme drought, but recent moisture has recharged soils. “Prior to this rain, this ground was really hard and compacted it seemed like,” he says. “I think all of the winds we had and stuff it really hard packed the ground on the top. The moisture has been a real benefit for us to improve planting conditions.”
But, Miller says, the rain has created some issues.
“(It’s) a little bit of a challenge cutting through the cornstalks to do a good job of no-tilling and get good placement for the soybeans.”
Miller grows corn and soybeans near Belgin and his operation suffered damage from last week’s derecho.
