Farmers contend with soggy, late spring to get into corn fields

It is all about weather and timing during spring planting, and the cold and wet weather that has blanketed the Quad-City region and beyond has pushed farmers into a race against time.

A soggy and late spring not only delayed farmers getting in the field to plant corn, but now the conditions are threatening to hamper the rest of the growing cycle as well as yields.

“It’s wet and cold, and the cool temperatures is as much a problem as the wetness,” said Pete Lau, who farms with his brother, Norm, in Scott County. “I think we’ve got to be thankful for the good years we’ve had because it’s been a long time since we had a spring like this.”

Lau, who farms 2,000 acres in north Davenport — much of it within the city limits — said this is the latest they still have been planting in the past 10 years. “What we need is some sunshine and wind to pull the moisture out of the ground,” said Lau, who has 1,000 acres of corn and 500 acres of soybeans planted with 500 acres of beans to go.

“We’ll get caught up, but there are people in worse shape than where we’re at who will have trouble catching up,” he added.

Across the river in lower Rock Island County near Buffalo Prairie, Ill., Greg Boruff also is thankful to be nearing an end. “We’re 90 percent done with corn and most the area down here is there or done — with the exception of what grows down in the New Boston bay. They’re dealing with standing water or seep water (from the Mississippi River).”

But across the Midwest, the planting pace is well behind last year which, when combined with the cool weather is leading to corn emerging at a slower rate than normal.

As of a week ago, just 47 percent of Iowa’s corn had been planted, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At the same time last year, farmers had 70 percent of their corn planted. On average, Iowa farmers have planted 82 percent of their corn in by this point.

In Illinois, 60 percent of the corn was planted as of a week ago. That too was below last year’s pace when 87 percent of the corn crop was planted and below the four-year average — calculated from 2003 to 2007 — of 88 percent.

Iowa’s Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey said conditions vary across the state and even within counties. “I talked to two folks in one county (Boone) the other day and one was done with soybeans and the other didn’t have any crop in the ground,” said Northey, who has been farming since 1981. With 750 crop acres near Spirit Lake in northwest Iowa, the now-weekend farmer has 60 percent of his corn planted but none of his soybeans.

“As farmers, we know we shouldn’t force it in when it’s too wet, but everyone knows their own fields and situations,” he said. “We still need to wait until the ground is ready to go — as we all say we only have one time to plant a crop.”

But farmers have a short window in which they should plant their corn. “We’re all trying to avoid the late planting because you may expose yourself to pollination in the worst heat of the summer,” said Boruff, whose family farms 1,500 acres. “Heat in pollination can handicap the whole process.”

Boruff, who owns Reason’s Meat Locker and Catering in Buffalo Prairie as his day job, said soybeans can be planted later because “the timing of beans is not as sensitive as the corn because of genetics.”

That race against time is what has forced Rock Island County farmer Phil Fuhr to plant in conditions he normally would not. “My corn was planted timely, but the conditions weren’t ideal,” said Fuhr, the new president of the Rock Island County Farm Bureau. “Around me there still is corn to be planted and quite a few beans — if not all the beans.”

Fuhr, who farms near Edgington, said the muddy fields not only affect how the equipment works but too much moisture can delay the corn emerging from the ground. “If you plant in wet conditions your prospects for a bumper crop go down.”

A late planting also can slow down the harvest and fall tillage. “It’s a snowball effect,” said Lau, who now is farming full-time since he and his brother retired after 30 years at the Kraft Oscar Mayer plant in Davenport.

Lau said the move by many farmers to reduce tillage is working against them with the wet spring. “The ground doesn’t dry out as fast,” he said, adding that “the biggest reason (to reduce tillage) right now is the fuel savings.”

“Agriculture is getting blamed for food prices right now and I believe the fuel prices have a lot more to do with the high food prices than anything we’re putting into ethanol,” he said.

But with the demand for corn so high and prices following suit, farmers do not want a wet start affecting their corn yields, Northey said. “We’re used to many good years of crops in many places. We certainly have a great need for folks using it and those wanting to produce enough to sell it at these prices. There are nervous folks out there.”

A report earlier this month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted corn production could be down as much as 7 percent this year on the heels of 2007’s record-breaking production. It projected farmers will harvest about 12 billion bushels of corn this year, down from the record 13 billion last year.

For Boruff, the prospect of a less-than-bumper crop is unnerving. “It doesn’t make the task any easier for the farmer. We get set back on our confidence on what we can forward sell — you naturally don’t have the same confidence you have if the corn’s been in the ground for a month and it’s all up.”

A few warm, sunny and windy days would do all the farmers a little good, he said.

“We’re not starting off with the right conditions, I’ll tell you that,” Fuhr said. “To have a bumper crop everything has to be perfect from the time the seed goes into the ground to the end.”

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.