Crop planting all but wrapped up in area

    Farmers in southwestern Nebraska appear to have dodged a bullet that hit their counterparts in the eastern part of the state square in the forehead.
    Heavy rains and massive flooding put eastern Nebraska farmers far behind on planting, but better weather here has enabled producers to stay more or less on schedule.
    “Far as I know, the irrigated corn is pretty much all planted,” said Tom Luhrs of Luhrs Certified Seed in Imperial.
    In dryland corn, wet weather earlier this spring delayed things just enough to depress planting.
    As it is, virtually all of the irrigated corn is in and perhaps 95 percent of what will be planted in dryland corn is planted, he said.
    Still, “what acres they intended to get planted just didn’t get planted,” Luhrs said.
    “No one’s able to get back into the field because of the rain,” he said. “It’s too late to plant any more corn.”
    While “there’s probably a fair amount of beans to be planted yet—and it’s getting too late for soybeans—dry edible beans, they’ll still get those in if it quits raining,” he said.
    “We were very fortunate to get the majority of our crops in.”
    Linda Robb, county executive director for the Farm Service Agency in Imperial, said while early rains made for a late start, “as far as corn, I’d say most of it’s been caught up.”
    The final planting date on soybeans is June 10 and “I know a lot of gentlemen did [finish] or they were close to being done shortly thereafter.”
    This spring was rainier than normal, but a difference in soil type also helped farmers in this area, Robb said. “Our soils are much more sandy and dried out quicker” than in eastern Nebraska, where the soil has more clay.
    A couple of hail storms didn’t do much damage here to the corn, she said, because “our hail mainly affects the wheat crop.” The corn wasn’t high enough to be impacted by any damage.”
    Kevin Janicek of Wauneta Seed Inc. said producers he serves are planning little, if any, replanting.
    Nor have conditions made farmers change their normal planting practices, Janicek said.