Farmers are using the hashtag #NoPlant19 on Twitter
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
American farmers are using social media to show how far behind they are with fieldwork because of the spring conditions.
Growers are including the hashtag #NoPlant19 on Twitter to post photos and updates, or lack thereof, due to cool and wet weather.
The USDA’s March Prospective Plantings report forecasted U.S. corn acres around 92.8 million acres. But as of May 29, growers have only planted 58 percent, or about 53.8 million acres, of corn.
The relentless rain has farmers considering scaling back production.
“If you think trying to figure out your seed order for the year is hard, try figuring out how much you don’t need as you slowly abandon acres that are too wet,” Brian Tweten, a producer from Thompson, N.D., said on Twitter Friday.
In some areas, drainage systems cannot keep up with the precipitation.
“Not good when your drainage contractor calls and says ‘man, you got hammered this morning.’ There’s water everywhere! No amount of tile will take care of this water,” said Twitter user CoBo_82, a producer from Elwood, Ind.
Some farmers had to jog their memories to remember a spring this wet and delayed.
Mike Beard, a grower from Frankford, Ind., recalls an exceptionally wet spring the year after he purchased his farm.
“I bought the farm in 1972, and I recall 1973 being so wet that I couldn’t plant my soybeans,” he told Farms.com. “We actually hired an airplane to broadcast the soybeans because of how wet it was. In fact, that fall was so wet I had to wait until January of 1974 before I could get them off.”