As the calendar shifted from March to April and the official start of spring settled in, Mother Nature has seemingly tightened her grip and refused to let winter go on its way.
With a late start to spring planting become more likely by the day, the level of concern for farmers is starting to ratchet up, according to North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring.
“At this point, there’s a little bit of concern,” he said. “Small grains generally are flowering in June when it’s cooler and there’s more moisture available to the plant, but that also means that we’re looking at planting dates in March and April to pull that off. If we end up into the end of April and into May, that puts (small grains) at a critical point when they start flowering in the summer.”
If we have a cool summer this year, Goehring points out, planting date becomes less relevant for small grains, but for row crops, specifically corn, late planting for small grains can become an issue.
“If guys are pushing hard to get small grains and pulses planted, even dry beans, that might push them off a bit on corn, and you can’t afford to do that because you need every day during the growing season to have a viable corn crop in the end with decent test weight and good yields,” he said.
“The further you push it out, the more it affects flowering. The rule of thumb, around that July 10 date, you can’t always rely on moisture, and moisture is critical prior to flowering on corn,” Goehring continued. “If pushed to the end of July for flowering and pollinating, that dings up yields.
“Guys are feeling that they better have everything ready to go because they don’t know what conditions will be like in the fields when it’s time to plant. Everyone is a little anxious because winter is not going away,” he added.
As we approach the 2023 growing season, Goehring noted there have been a few more smiles on the faces of farmers of late with fertilizer prices coming down. That said, fertilizer prices aren’t the only thing coming down lately, as commodity prices are continuing to drift lower.
“Some people, they won’t admit this, but some may not have gotten a whole lot of their crop contracted in the middle of winter when fertilizer prices were high,” he said. “They anticipated fertilizer prices to go higher, and when they started to see the market slip and fertilizer come down, they started to purchase their fertilizer but were waiting for that bump on commodity prices.
“The further you push it out, the more it affects flowering. The rule of thumb, around that July 10 date, you can’t always rely on moisture, and moisture is critical prior to flowering on corn,” Goehring continued. “If pushed to the end of July for flowering and pollinating, that dings up yields.
“Guys are feeling that they better have everything ready to go because they don’t know what conditions will be like in the fields when it’s time to plant. Everyone is a little anxious because winter is not going away,” he added.
As we approach the 2023 growing season, Goehring noted there have been a few more smiles on the faces of farmers of late with fertilizer prices coming down. That said, fertilizer prices aren’t the only thing coming down lately, as commodity prices are continuing to drift lower.
“Some people, they won’t admit this, but some may not have gotten a whole lot of their crop contracted in the middle of winter when fertilizer prices were high,” he said. “They anticipated fertilizer prices to go higher, and when they started to see the market slip and fertilizer come down, they started to purchase their fertilizer but were waiting for that bump on commodity prices.
“That hasn’t happened, and now they’re scrambling to lock something in on commodities,” he continued. “These commodity prices have been collapsing here for a while, so it’s a bit of concern.”
Goehring noted that the drop in prices isn’t making a lot of sense to farmers.
“The fundamentals aren’t really playing a huge role here,” he said. “When you look at global stocks, farmers are just shaking their heads thinking we should be able to provide stability in this market, not this instability and high variability.”
For livestock producers, Goehring notes they are happy overall with what the markets have been.
“There’s hope that there’s going to be some good markets where they can contract calves this fall,” he said. “With the moisture received this winter, we might have some grass and some full stock dams. Some have been frustrated because winter has hung on longer this spring. Many have pushed calving dates back into March and April, and now they’re contending with snow at a time when typically it’s not anticipated as much.”
Source: agupdate.com
Photo Credit: istock-Kat72
Categories: North Dakota, Crops, Corn