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Planting on hold

Farmers face high water, cold forecast

Staff photo by Fritz Busch Floodwater washes out a segment of County Road 10 just east of State Highway 4 and a portion of an adjacent fully plowed crop field Wednesday about 10 miles north of Sleepy Eye.

NEW ULM — Spring planting challenges continue to plague planters with rising rivers and a cooler forecast in the coming days.

“We’ve had good rain, but it will slow us up for planting crops,” said Wayne Schoper, an agriculture instructor for South Central College.

“There is a lot of corn, 40 to 60% in the ground, but we need consistent warm weather,” Schoper added. “We don’t need 5 inches of rain anymore. We’re in a waiting game to see where we will go.”

After a warm forecast Thursday with highs in the 80s, forecast highs dip to the 60s and 50s for the next few days. The National Weather Service is forecasting possible frost in the region overnight Saturday and early Sunday morning.

Schoper said corn and bean prices are at near highs for this time of year.

“We haven’t seen prices like this since drought conditions in 2012 and 2013,” Schoper said.

There are other issues at play.

“There are planting concerns in eastern Europe and South America, but we’re getting the crop in here,” Schoper added.

Corn, soybean and wheat prices are expected to remain high this year, due to good demand, moderate supplies and production fears due to weather.

In spite of climbing input costs, good commodity profit potential remains during for this marketing year and into 2023, according to agriculture analyst Todd Hultman.

He added farmers should pay close attention to drought concerns in parts of the U.S., Argentina and Brazil.

Corn, soybean and wheat prices jumped recently due to dwindling soy yields and corn development concerns in South America.

The season-average farm price for corn in 2022-23 is projected at $6.75 a bushel. Other feed feed grain prices are projected to be higher over the year, due to strong grain demand and elevated global commodity market prices, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture Market Outlook.

While lower projected corn output and strong domestic demand are limiting exportable U.S. corn supplies, a virtual absence of competition from Ukraine is expected to benefit U.S. exports, according to the report.

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