By Blake Jackson
Spring planting has been delayed across parts of southern Wisconsin, as repeated heavy rains have saturated farm fields. In an ideal spring, Jefferson County farmer Randy Mitchell would be starting to plant his corn and soybean crops this week.
But that work is on pause as he waits for his fields to dry out after torrential rains saturated much of southern Wisconsin last week.
“The planter is ready to go, and our machinery is ready,” said Mitchell, who is president of the Jefferson County Farm Bureau. Several rounds of severe storms last week caused flooding in communities from Janesville to the Milwaukee area, as well as in northeastern and central parts of the state.
It comes as the planting season begins for much of southern Wisconsin, forcing some farms to delay their work.
Josh Kamps, crops and soils educator for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Extension, said the repeated torrential rains were more than most soils could handle. “Certain fields you can see were at more risk of soil (loss), maybe nutrient loss, with that excess rainfall that could not infiltrate because of a wet week,” said Kamps. He added that lost nutrients could be from manure fertilizer that was previously applied or from nutrients already present in the soil.
Kamps, who works with farms in Jefferson, Rock, and Walworth counties, said the saturation levels of soils can vary greatly from farm to farm and even within a single field.
Mitchell said he still had standing water on some of his acres Thursday, and so did many other farms in Jefferson County. He said some producers have also had to clear away downed trees and debris from their fields.
Kamps said the wet conditions have left producers with difficult decisions to make. Waiting for land to dry out could impact the timing of other fieldwork, such as herbicide applications in the weeks ahead.
“Farmers might be ready to plant 80 percent of a field, but, you know, they need to make a choice,” he said. “Do they square off the other 20 percent and wait to come back and plant? Do they wait until the entire field is ready to plant? I think those are some decisions that people are thinking about.”
However, Kamps said the situation is not yet dire. Several days of dry and warm weather would allow farmers to begin work in the next few weeks and still have a good start to the growing season.
Mitchell said he has already seen some of his neighbors with fields at higher elevations or with lighter, sandy soils working in their fields this week. His county farm bureau even canceled its Wednesday night meeting because so many farmers called out to begin fieldwork.
While wet soils are a welcome change from the dry conditions seen in recent years, Kamps pointed out that some areas now too wet to plant were considered abnormally dry just a month ago.
But excessive rainfall does not necessarily help recharge soil moisture for the growing season.
“There really isn’t a lot of benefit there, because so much is at risk of loss and runoff,” he said.
Photo Credit: getty-images-n-sky
Categories: Wisconsin, Weather