Seed was going in the ground early just about everywhere this spring – up to four weeks early in some spots. As a result, virtually all the corn is planted, and soybeans are close. And other than scattered patches of corn in northern Indiana and Illinois that got dinged with frost, the early-planting gamble seems to have paid off.
Unfortunately, it didn’t snow much last winter, and it hasn’t rained much this spring. So the good news is: There have been plenty of warm, dry days suitable for fieldwork. The bad news is: We need moisture most everywhere, according to the USDA weekly summary.
It’s so dry in parts of Illinois that there are growers waiting for rain before they finish planting beans. In Indiana, Iowa and Kansas, a stretch of warm, windy days has some farmers worried about dry topsoil. In most places, winter wheat is maturing early because of the warm, dry spring.
Iron-wise, the engineering improvements we made to distribute air more effectively on the Early Riser® planter really paid off. The Early Riser delivers superior seed flow – even when you’re planting treated corn in hot, humid weather, which is no easy task. It’s exceeding expectations under all conditions. It’s also the only planter that puts the seed in the best agronomic environment possible.
The True-Tandem™ 330 Turbo has also been a big hit this season, because of the way it handles residue from BT corn and higher plant populations. Guys use it in the fall to break up root balls and size residue, and then pull it out again in the spring to fluff the soil and level the field.
Our product specialists tell me when they demo a 330 Turbo, it’s as good as sold. They’ve also been busy demoing (and selling) a lot of Early Riser planters. That’s one of the advantages of having teams of specialists based in the field to support our customers and keep them rolling – we also get to demo head-to-head matchups of Case IH equipment vs. competitors’ machines. Those demonstrations are changing a lot of minds about the color red, and what it really means to “Be Ready.”
We’d like to hear your Planting Report.
Are you done? What was your biggest challenge?
Below are links to all our Planting Reports from our Case IH crop production specialists:
