We are getting ready for the 2024 growing season and the weather is giving us fits already. After an unseasonably warm winter, and really only about 10 days of actual bad weather, Mother Nature decided to release more winter as we enter the first full week of spring. While farmers have been chomping at the bit to get going, many have been pumping the brakes just a tad. However, some people have applied anhydrous already or are terminating cover crops.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig talks about the situation we are finding ourselves in across the state and reminds farmers that we are currently facing plenty of challenges in terms of getting this crop off to a strong start.
The Secretary remarks that as State Climatologist Dr. Justin Glissan says if we are only getting the rain we would seasonably get, we aren’t reversing the drought. We are just filling our short-term needs. This is why planting procedures, seed traits, and conservation farming strategies are so important to help give us that edge.
A lot of collective breaths are being held to get the rain we so desperately need, without putting us in a bind like we saw back in 2019. Many farmers would like to get the rain now after we plant, but if that is not to be, Iowa farmers are excellent at adapting to keep growing the food we need.
