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Nebraska farmer says crop residue has slowed crop emergence
A Southwest Nebraska farmer says crop residue has created several emergence issues for corn and soybeans.
Don Batie grows corn and soybeans near Lexington. “We had some residue blow and burry some of our places. We either had some windrows with residue in our no till fields that we couldn’t get planted through very well or the wind blew the residue on top of the corn that’s emerging and suffocated it. Minor issues there.”
He tells Brownfield he wrapped up soybean planting last week, but recent freezing temperatures may force some farmers to replant. “Where the beans were no tilled into residue, they froze. Where beans that were on bare ground, they survived. The theory is that the ground was warmer and the residue acted like an insulator and kept the warmth from the ground away from the bean plants and the cold air got the beans.”
And, Batie says, cool and dry conditions have slowed crop emergence.