It was a very nice 10-day stretch to begin the month across much of the state. Pioneer Field Agronomist Ben Jacob says planting progress, though, has been limited in his area in West Central Indiana.
“Some folks have gotten a jump on beans, but nobody is really hitting it too hard. There’s been just a little bit of corn in the ground, but mostly shaking equipment down and getting things ready to go. On the field work side of it, compared to the past couple of springs, it’s been a very nice window to get out. A lot of anhydrous went down last week, some tillage work, and a lot of burndown being sprayed.”
As far as when farmers should be looking to get the planter in the field, Jacob says it’s not necessarily too soon to start, but you should exercise caution. After all, it’s only April 12th.
“Let’s exercise as much caution as we can. The forecast, as far as precipitation, looks really good. I know that when we get to be chomping at the bit, we plant that first field and maybe it’s just a little bit too heavy and you can cause some compaction. But it’s kind of a chain reaction. You get to the first field and it’s just a touch heavy and that ends up following you into the season. If we’re not careful, we end up causing a bunch of compaction issues that could have been avoided by just having a little bit of patience.”
Tune in to my full interview with Pioneer Field Agronomist Ben Jacob below as he discusses planting considerations and also prioritizing fieldwork.