Purdue-COVID-19-podcast-launches
The second Purdue Crop Chat podcast presented by Purdue Extension and Hoosier Ag Today is now live, and implications of COVID-19 on farming is the timely topic. Purdue extension corn and soybean specialists Dr. Bob Nielsen and Dr. Shaun Casteel try to shed some light on where planting prospects are now, related to the effects of the pandemic.
Nielsen says seed supplies right now are adequate based on conversations he is having.
“What’s not known, or at least what I don’t know yet, is what percent of the seed has been delivered to the farm,” he said. “Because of the uncertainty I would encourage farmers that if they had not already had seed delivered, I would certainly try to take delivery of it as soon as I could, assuming you have storage availability.”
He added having everything needed on hand can go a long way toward smoothing out planting season. So, take delivery of any seed, pesticide, and fertilizer that you can. Casteel says there is a similar scenario on the soybean side.
“Seed is there, it’s just a matter of making sure it does get delivered. One of the points I really want to make with this is to start the conversation with your ag retailer, whether it’s a seed salesperson directly or it’s a local co-op, to see where that seed is, delivery in particular, and to go ahead and get it moving.”
In the podcast both extension specialists talk about “what-if’s” because of all we don’t yet know with coronavirus. What if the fertility program is affected or interrupted for some reason?
“Do your homework now while it is wet,” Casteel says. “Look at what fields have been fertilized or what was your most recent soil sample, what were some of the yields, and go ahead and make your priority list. You may not get every field fertilized this year, and that’s ok as long as you know which ones desperately need it.”
And Nielsen adds, “Just understand sidedress applications in say early June when the corn is about knee high is perfectly ok timing to be applying nitrogen. That might be one way to get around some issues with some preplant applications here over the next month because of the virus situation.”
Listen to the full, wide-ranging discussion in podcast episode two of Purdue Crop Chat.