View from the Cab: Loving these times

By: Kent Casson

Don’t you just love this time of year?

I realize it’s not sunny and 70 all of the time but if you go outside and take a deep breath, you can almost feel spring is just around the corner. As of this writing, our first big winter thaw of 2026 is underway with temperatures expected to reach the 50s and any remaining snow drifts are disintegrating by the minute. Everyone has that extra “spring” in their step.

Winds are fairly calm, the sun is shining, robins will arrive in the yard at any time and the kids are even playing basketball outside on the driveway.  You know what this means?  Farmers are getting excited for planting season which isn’t far off.

I noticed a few shed doors wide open last week while some farmers even had equipment parked outside on the gravel.  What a perfect time to start looking things over for the busy season. Dealers have announced deals to get equipment into the shop while is still early.

Despite some decent snowfall for the first half of the winter season, we are extremely dry around here. The drought monitor has been showing extreme drought conditions south of Champaign and it seems that area has grown in recent weeks while we are moderately dry here. This is evident as rural homeowners have been hauling water to fill dry wells.

One farmer told me he expects to go out and level off some dirt in the near future. It may seem pretty early for this, but fields are fit for work from a lack of winter moisture. I hope we can find some moisture to plant into this spring, otherwise we could be in trouble.

At least markets have been trying to rebound the past couple of weeks – especially soybeans. We have hope as we enter another growing season and there’s always the possibility of high yields, but we have a long way to go before we get there.

Late March planting intentions and acreage reports will likely guide market direction at least for the start of this year’s farming season as weather and world news gets all of the attention the rest of the way.

Farm meeting season is still in full swing around here as farmers are trying to learn all they can in order to navigate these challenging times we are in.