Northwest Iowa — If we didn’t have snow on the ground and it was a bit warmer, farmers might be in the fields this time of year.
We talked with Iowa State University Extension Crop Field Specialist Joel De Jong, who says the snow we’ve been getting this “extended winter” is keeping farmers out of their fields, for at least two reasons.
He tells us what farmers might be doing if this were a typical spring.
He says while this spring has not been typical, it’s not all that unusual to get snow in April.
De Jong says he doesn’t think at this point that the later planting will make much difference in the long term.
De Jong says planting corn late will mean planting soybeans late too, but again, he doesn’t think it will make much difference if we get some nice weather in the next few weeks.
And it looks like some of that type of weather is on the way. Forecast highs are in the fifties for the next couple of days. We could hit 60 on Sunday and maybe even 65 on Monday. And for the next six to ten days, we can expect temperatures in the 50’s with normal precipitation, according to the National Weather Service.
