Crop Watcher week three - Finally Progress

Todd Easton Coles County May 13 2011: What a difference a week can make when conditions are finally right and everyone has been waiting too long. Monday morning the ground was dry enough to start working and in the four days since it looks like producers took from 5 percent in the ground to well over 50 percent. Coming into this weekend the forecast is indicating a strong chance of rain which may slow progress but hopefully with the warmer weather not for long. There have also been a handful of soybean fields planted in the last couple days but not a significant amount as everyone has been putting most efforts into corn planting. The corn that planted in early April is still just at the V2 stage and unfortunately by appearance shows that it has had a very tough first month. It will be interesting to see how that corn will compare in yield to what we have planted this week. I can’t ever remember in my short farming career everyone putting in such long and hard hours as we are this spring. Along with that comes a much higher chance for accidents so we must always remember SAFETY FIRST.