Next Year Won’t Be the Same as This Year
Trent Brandenburg makes a safe prediction for 2012 as he reflects on 2011. Trent is finishing his year-end bookkeeping and tax work, and hauling grain for January delivery as muddy conditions permit. Trent is happy for the rain, because the ground is not yet frozen, so the rain will soak into the soil and not run off as it would if the soil were frozen. Thus the groundwater supply will be recharged after the very dry late summer.
Trent said 2011 contrasted the wet spring with a severely dry late summer. The drought during corn pollination kept yields at the average level, but very strong market prices supported good financial returns overall. Trent sees 2012 being a challenge as market prices trend lower and farm input costs–seed, fuel, and crop protection chemicals–“are quite a bit higher.” The probability of volatile market prices next year will require careful attention to marketing strategies and the timing of 2012 crop sales.
More from The Field Report
Replanting Done, Corn and Beans Look Good
Trent Brandenburg has replanted his few ponded field "wet spots" as many as three times. The replanted areas are "thin," Trent observed, because "It has been too wet. But at least [replanting] will keep the weeds down." Trent is now [...]
First Round Of Planting Done, Ponds Need Replanting
Trent Brandenburg is done with his "first round" of planting, as he puts it. The corn and soybeans he planted in April are up and growing in excellent condition. Trent's later-planted crops are germinating but not as far along as [...]
Not Much Field Work This Week
Trent Brandenburg does not plan on much fieldwork for this week, starting April 29, 2024. The huge squall line that extended from Texas to Green Bay, Wisconsin, over this past weekend, was far enough west to spare central Illinois from [...]