Farming The Northern Plains: Wheat Is A Winner, Corn Is A Headache
What are the critical decision points for farmers in the northern plains?
Dr. Lee Briese of Central Ag Consulting. Jamestown, ND, says while farmers can get a lot of work done in a short time frame, the best thing they can do to get ready for spring is set their priorities.
“The planting priorities are number one,” he says. “Then pre emerge herbicide sprays re number two. And then we're actually shifting our fertilizer applications like in corn to a number three priority. Granted, we need that for later on, but we’ve got some time there to do it after planting, so we're going to focus on getting the planting and that early spraying done.”
While current forecasts are indicating a potential later start to planting, Briese says farmers are busy planning, and weighing their crop decisions.
“It does start to feel late after Easter and we get a lot of snow,” he says. “But we typically get rolling the last week of April, and get a fair amount done through early May.”
He says spring wheat is still a “winner” for farmers based on the economics. Generally he refers to corn production as “a headache” for farmers, unless the planting season does get late and farmers have the logistics to support corn production.
While he’s looking at a blanket of snow right now, he says the frost underneath isn’t too thick.
“Probably the one shining positive in this whole thing is that we don't have real deep frost in the soil. Our soils are not frozen very deep like they typically are, so we're kind of hoping that when the melt starts and a lot of this moisture is going to be able to seek in rather than have to run off. We could use a little recharge,” Briese says.
In addition to crop mix and planting timing, Briese is watching two agronomic trends: biologicals and cover crops.
“I'm really looking forward to the potential for some of these new biologicals,” Briese says. “But I think we really need to focus on putting them in the right place. We've seen some hits and misses in part because some of our really good ground is already benefiting from native biologicals, but then we've got some ground that the soils not quite as good as it could be. So maybe that's a place to try some of the biologicals, but I think we haven't quite figured out the placement.”
As for cover crops, he’s seen practical use of cover crops especially in challenging conditions.
“When we've had some difficult planting seasons–like we're approaching now–we maybe can get most of the field planted and some of that field is going to be underwater. That's where I've seen more cover crops come in later into those once underwater areas as a weed fighting tool and a water management tool. That’s one way cover crops have been working.”
