Agronomist says moisture will be there when farmers hit the fields next spring

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Although it will be a few months before area farmers head back to the fields, no doubt their thoughts are already there, that is, in a sense of preparation.

What they could find is better starting conditions in the spring of 2014 than last spring, says Virgil Schmitt, Iowa State University regional agronomist.

?Soil conditions are a little better than last year,? Schmitt, who was battling a case of laryngitis, said recently. ?We?ve had more rain this fall and it came when the plants were not using it. Conditions, of course, are a little drier under perennial plants because they use moisture until it freezes.?

Schmitt said that soil moisture has improved considerably since an unusually dry July and August. He said that each inch of rain adds about six inches of soil moisture.

One change in the last generation of farming is fall plowing isn?t as plentiful as it once was. ?That (fall plowing) kind of depends on where you live,? noted Schmitt. ?If you live by Winfield you will see more plowing because of the flat ground than around Salem which has more hilly ground.

?It is more of a conservation thing. When you loosen the soil and bury residue, it becomes more prone to wind erosion,? he continued. ?Water doesn?t run off flat soil as much so erosion is not as big a deal.?

A practice becoming more popular is the aerial planting of a winter cover crop, such as winter rye, winter wheat on harvested fields. Schmitt said about 10-20 percent of area farmers plant the winter crop but ?it has become real popular in the last two or three years.?

There are several advantages, Schmitt said, to the practice. First, it helps combat erosion and secondly winter cover crops retain nitrogen and phosphorous levels in farm fields.

?The advent of cover crops provides a cover for the crops and intercepts energy from rain the crop?s root system holds soil in place,? the agronomist explained. ?Secondly, the cover crop attracts nitrogen so that it (nitrogen) will not leach out the tile water. Oats, for example, really sucks up nitrogen and you don?t have to eradicate it in the spring before planting your regular crop.?

Schmitt said most farmers observing the practice choose to plant by air, often before the corn or soybean fields are harvested.

Cover crops started becoming popular after Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey asked Iowa State University to do an assessment on how to prevent nitrogen and phosphorous runoff into rivers. ?Cover crops provide the only strategy keeping nitrogen and phosphorous in place,? Schmitt said.

Asked why more farmers aren?t planting winter crops, Schmitt said one reason is the dramatic increase in price of rye seed and lack of airplanes to do the aerial planting.

?You have innovators who get on every new horse to come along and ride into the sunset,? he began, using an analogy. ?Then, you have early adapters who watch the innovators before doing it. I am sure we will see more of it in the future.?

Strong commodity prices in comparison with government conservation reserve program (CRP) payments also have led to more acres being farmed nowadays. ?The earing capacity of land is so high in comparison with government rental rates that you can?t afford to leave it in CRP. The government is trying to make rental rates more competitive.

?The conservation aspect is one thing that gets robbed,? he added. ?It will be interesting to see how this shakes out.?

A common misconception is that CRP land is not high yielding ground. Schmitt begs to disagree, saying that some CRP land, especially Fayette soil, has good yielding potential but is highly erosive.

So, if you?re thinking about next spring?s planting, Schmitt encourages optimism.

?Farmers tend to be prone to both optimism and pessimism, but you need to go forward assuming it will be a good year. If you plan for a bad year, it will be a bad year. You have to assume that the weather is going to be good and go forward with that and purchase inputs based on that assumption,? Schmitt urged.

And if you really want to be optimistic, the three-month (Nov.-Jan.) advance forecast calls for above-average temperatures and average precipitation.