By Kara Anderson
A little bit of planting is happening exceedingly early this year at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca.
“The National Weather Service is calling for 64ºF for a high today and I’ve got a crazy notion,” Agronomic Scientist Tom Hoverstad said on Monday, Feb. 26. “We’ve got a little area. If it’s dry enough—I’m going to walk out and see how dry it is—I might plant some wheat, corn, and soybeans, just to say that we did it in February in Minnesota. To show people what can happen. I think the wheat will be just fine.”
Hoverstad, along with Senior Research Plot Technician Kara Anderson, got out and planted four 90-foot rows of the three crops at the research and outreach center. As it turned out, the day shattered the previous record of 63ºF and reached 69ºF, according to the National Weather Service. The little demonstration may not amount to much in terms of harvest, but the weather conditions that have given rise to it may indicate Minnesota farmers could begin planting earlier than normal this spring, according to Hoverstad.
Also during the Feb. 26 experimental planting at the research center, soil temperatures reached around 52ºF, which is above the minimum required to begin germination. You can follow the fortunes of this ultra-early planted corn at the SROC Facebook page.
Positioned for early planting
“At this point in time, we are in a position for early planting,” Hoverstad said. “That really depends on two things that have to occur in spring for planting conditions to be right. You have to wait for soil to warm up, and you have to wait for it to dry out. The one thing we don’t have to do this year is melt a lot of snow.”
The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration Snow Depth Map shows no snow cover in Minnesota except for small portions of the north shore of Lake Superior, and areas along the Canadian border, west of Lake of the Woods.
Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist at the Minnesota Climatology Office, confirmed that this has been the warmest Minnesota winter on record, and it’s bound to impact how planting rolls out. He reported that Iowa has posted red flag fire danger warnings across the state, about a month earlier than in a normal year.
Climatologist Mark Seeley recalled that a previous record temperature in February 1981 caused researchers at University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center in Lamberton to plant a plot of small grains, which did quite well. According to the Center’s Facebook account, they planted a small grains plot again this year.
“Waseca’s average temperature is above freezing for the month, at 33.1 F. That’s 13.9 degrees above normal,” Seely said. “It’s pretty amazing. I will be keenly watching the phenology this spring to see if we have the earliest arrival of climatological Spring ever. We do have all of March to get through of course.” Phenology is the study of how biological systems are impacted by weather events.
You can read the Minnesota Climatology Office take on the weather phenomenon the state is experiencing this year in their ongoing piece “Our Lost Winter,” on the Minnesota DNR’s website.
“Most people won’t get excited about planting corn (in early April), but if the conditions are right farmers may plant a substantial amount of corn around April 11-15,” Hoverstad said. “We are on the northern edge of the corn belt, so we have a little bit of a shorter season than Illinois or Indiana. We need to capture as much of that season as we can.”
In many years, a cool, wet spring delays planting corn until mid-to-late May, but this year some farmers are apt to choose to plant starting at the “earliest allowable planting date” for federal crop insurance set by the (USDA) Risk Management Agency—April 11.
Hoverstad noted that many farm operators remain cautious about early planting, because of the risk of late frosts, which could bring a steep cost for replanting. With more than 40 years as an agronomic scientist, Hoverstad has seen a remarkable change: early planting used to be considered a hedge to ensure corn would enter its all-important reproductive phase before the typical late summer drought set in. But annual precipitation in Minnesota has increased by 25 percent compared to past decades, and timely rains often come throughout the summer.
Click here to see more...