Here & Now

Does April Snow Bring May Soybeans?

Frederica Freyberg:

Now to the subject everyone’s been talking about this week, the weather. And an inside look at the impact all this snow may have on state farmers who are nearing planting time. A time which is fast approaching, even as many fields are currently under a deep frozen blanket. Heidi Johnson is the Crops and Soils Educator for UW-Extension in Dane County. Heidi, thanks for being here.

Heidi Johnson:

Sure.

Frederica Freyberg:

What have you heard from farmers who have planting on their calendars but now are dealing with several inches of snow?

Heidi Johnson:

They're eager to get going, but that’s pretty typical. They are used to weather. That’s something they deal with every year for everything they need to do. So they’re pretty — they usually take a pretty relaxed approach to it. So lots of people in their sheds getting their planters tuned up and making sure they have everything ready to go, so they’re keeping busy.

Frederica Freyberg:

Does it put them behind?

Heidi Johnson:

Not at this point. I mean we typically have a lot of rain in April anyways and cold soils. Our main crops are really warm season crops, so corn and soybeans. So we don’t want them in the ground when it’s this cold. The soil really needs to warm before they can get planted. So really the research that we have from UW that’s been done over the last 30 years, planting dates have changed over that time, obviously. But when we look at yields, we really want to see farmers getting in the first week of May to optimize yields.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is there is upside to the moisture that will come from this snowpack?

Heidi Johnson:

Well, it’s always good to have moisture and we want to have the subsoil really recharged with moisture so that is a good thing. I mean if it isn’t snow, it probably would have been rain. So I'm not sure it’s a huge — I think they’d rather see it in the liquid form than the frozen.

Frederica Freyberg:

As you say, producers are always kind of at the whim of weather. But how much can they weather economically, what with the collapse in milk prices and commodity prices?

Heidi Johnson:

Well, that is a concern this year. We do need a full season for corn and soybeans to grow. And so when we start to eat away at planting, then we are losing time. And then that gives the possibility of the crop not finishing all the way, which can increase drying expenses or it can reduce yield if we continue to push that planting date back. So we do want to see that happen so that they can get good yield. And it’s most important this year because of what you said, which is these challenging prices. Right now both crops and milk are — the price that farmers are receiving is pretty much less than what they can make it for.

Frederica Freyberg:

Yeah. So I've seen it described as a dairy crisis. Is that too strong?

Heidi Johnson:

We are seeing a lot of farms go bankrupt right now. And a lot of farms selling cows and going — you know, going into just crop production because they can’t keep going with the dairy production. So it is getting to the point where it’s pretty tough out there. This is — we’ve had extended low prices for dairy, so that’s the problem at this point. Farmers can weather it for a little while, but then it gets to the point where they can’t keep making less than they’re getting for the product — or keep making it for less than they get it for.

Frederica Freyberg:

Farmers that you’ve interacted with, what do they want to see done about this?

Heidi Johnson:

To see done about the prices? I think they’d just like better prices.

Frederica Freyberg:

Right.

Heidi Johnson:

That really is the bottom line. That they need a price that’s more than what they can make it for so that they can make money on it. Farming is a different industry than a lot of industries, where it’s really generations of people that have had that farm. And so when people leave farming, it’s not like leaving a different type of job. It’s a very emotional thing because you’re losing something that’s been in your family for a long time.

Frederica Freyberg:

And you’ve seen that this year?

Heidi Johnson:

We're seeing cows, going, yes, for sure. A lot of times if it’s a dairy farm, they still have acreage that they’ve been using to produce forage crops. And if they sell the cows, then they’ll just switch to producing grain crops, which isn’t a much better deal for them right now, but that’s often what we see is that switch-over. So it is tough and there are farms right around Dane County that have already had to sell their cows this year based on the prices. And we know Wisconsin is leading in farm bankruptcies. So it really is a tough time.

Frederica Freyberg:

In terms of back to the whims of weather, just ahead and, you know, starting today, it’s supposed to be kind of sunny and warm.

Heidi Johnson:

Right.

Frederica Freyberg:

So does that put farmers kind of back on the right track?

Heidi Johnson:

Yeah. I think that’s really going to help now that we’ve got good sun that’s coming, too. We want to see warmer weather. We want to get warmer nights, too, so that that soil — really soil temperature is what’s driving it, so we want to see that soil starting to warm up. If we have full sun and then warmer nights, we’re going to get there quicker. They’ve got things to do before planting like tillage or putting manure out, so there’s some activities they need to get done prior to planting so we need a dry spell for them to get some of that stuff done too.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. Heidi Johnson, thanks a lot for joining us.

Heidi Johnson:

Thanks.