Progress in the soil?

FAIRBURY – A few farmers took a chance by putting seed in the ground before all of this wet weather, but after digging up young plants, some growers are happy with what they are finding.

This news comes despite the recent cool and wet conditions.

“We have other instances where, unfortunately, water is still standing on top of that seed and they haven’t had a chance to look at it,” said Brad Schmidgall, who manages the Brandt Consolidated Fairbury location.

Schmidgall acknowledges farmers have been dealt with several factors during what has been a short spring season so far. Weed emergence is something else to be concerned about in 2019.

“Make sure the burndown programs that we are going out there with are taking care of all the weeds that are coming,” Schmidgall explains. “Mainly, I bring up water hemp – we have seen a lot of that starting to emerge.”

Those in the ag community are being advised to stick to their original plans this spring.

“We’ve had some real productive years that got a late start, so don’t get too discouraged early,” Schmidgall said.

General rain patterns over the past two weeks have brought spraying and planting to a halt here in Central Illinois. Once the weather breaks, the folks at Brandt and area farmers will be ready to go.

“We’ll just wait and deal with the hand we’ve been dealt,” Schmidgall concluded.