Oswald No-Till Farm Cleghorn, IA | We are considering PP. With water standing in the Rogator tracks from the burndown. With water oozing out of sidehills and on top of hills, it doesn't pay to drag the planter through the squish. Last time the planter was in the field "here" was June 8 when I was rained out after mudding in beans from 9" over Memorial Day weekend rain event.
What's interesting is that you can go from dry on top to shiney black in only a few feet. Tiles show up like gray ribbons in a sea of shiney black not that far away. Things were changing for the better when I was planting (smaller wet, more "dry") but nearly 2" that weekend and 1" this weekend doesn't help progress. The standing stalks held a lot of soil in place. Beans that were planted into saturated or would be saturated areas were washed (floated?) out on rather gentle slopes. On ponding type field positions, they are trying to get their head above water.
More water likely ran off smoothly tilled fields so they didn't saturate so much and dried out more quickly. Those fields also have contributed some nice silt for our waterways and standing stalk flood plains.
Relative to crop insurance, I think one could argue with the subsidy levels relative to broader rural societal fabric issues. Lots to debate there. In our case, Dad started taking Fed Crop Insurance when they said they were going to do away with disaster programs. They did keep those programs as well so for a while it seemed a bit foolish. I don't recal us ever collecting for drought but have collected for wind, hail, disease or wet season yield loss. If we end off doing some PP, it will be another case of excess water causing us grief. The planter was wanting to run, but not through shiney green mud.
Droughts scare you and floods break you. |
Prevented plant question
