Illinois Farmers Delay Planting Crops Amid Wet Weather, Low Crop Prices, And Trade Uncertainty

[Sherman A1]

Floodwaters on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers may be going down, but rain has continued to soak farmland around much of the state. More rain could be on the way later this month.

Wet fields make it hard to plant because farmers use large, heavy machinery in the fields. Even if a field is dry enough for equipment not to get stuck, too much pressure on wet soil makes it hard for seedlings to develop solid root systems.

“Without good root development, there isn’t anything to feed the plant, and if we’re not feeding the plant, we don’t get much back in yields,” said Steve Fourez, a farmer in Vermillion County, Illinois.

Fourez, a board member for the Illinois Farm Bureau, said he has about 500 acres where he farms corn and soybeans. This time last year, he had it all planted. This year, it’s been too wet to even start.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/illinois-farmers-delay-planting-crops-amid-wet-weather-low-crop-prices-and-trade-uncertainty

[The Polack MSgt]

1. All the fields around here (Kaskaskia river/Silver Creek valley)

Are unplowed and the winter wheat is already 24 inches tall.

All the fields that were soy or corn last year are covered with golden rod and black eyed Susan's right now. Which looks pretty while you drive by but adds a shit ton of pollen to my day.

Add in all the mold from the non stop wetness and southern Illinois is not the place to be if you get hay fever

[Wellstone ruled]

2. The Cash Croppers

are dealing with a prefect storm which happens though out our History . Late wet springs are a twenty year cycle,and we did not have the Market impact as we do today during the last major cold wet spring cycle.

Trump just made the prefect storm happen with his Wilbur Ross/Steve Bannon Policies. Nationalist Policies have never worked for any Nation. And those who subscribe to those Policies are exposed and dealt with harshly .

[beachbum bob]

3. Karma is a bitch, just saying

[ColesCountyDem]

4. It's May 15th, and no one's planting down here (Franklin County). n/t