Minnesota Corn Planting Outracing Average Pace

“This year we may finish planting earlier than we ever have before,” says Brent Davison, who has been farming in Tintah, Minnesota, for more than 40 years. Davison, who farms with his son Chad, has finished sugarbeet and corn planting and is now planting soybeans.

Lack of moisture is the main reason the Davisons have been able to cruise through planting this season. With less snow and rain in the area, fields have been drier sooner, allowing for earlier fieldwork. The downside is that fields are in need of moisture, says Chad (shown left).

Eric Jahn farms in Clarkfield, Minnesota, a few hours south of the Davison farm. He has also wrapped up corn planting and has a little over 1,000 acres of soybeans left to plant, which he hopes to finish in the next five days or so.

The Davison and Jahn farms show what is happening across cornfields in Minnesota. Overall corn planting is 38% finished, putting the state 18 days ahead of last year and 9 days ahead of the five-year average, according to the USDA NASS Crop Progress report for the week ending April 26.

Small grain seeding is also ahead of average by about three weeks. However, cool temperatures have slowed down emergence. Here are the stats for each crop:

• Barley 58% seeded; 10% emerged
• Oats 70% seeded; 23% emerged
• Spring wheat 81% planted; 20% emerged
• Sugarbeets 85% planted

Scattered showers and snow have helped to improve topsoil and subsoil moisture supplies, although some areas are still short. Two-percent of topsoil moisture supplies are very short, 29% are short, 68% are adequate, and 1% have a surplus. For subsoil moisture supplies, 4% are very short, 35% are short, 61% are adequate, and there are no acres with a surplus.