As rising river levels keep Minnesota communities on-edge due to flooding concerns, Minnesota farmers are also dealing with a few headaches of their own this spring thanks to snow melt, rain, and up and down temperatures.
"We've had winter, spring, and summer in Minnesota all in the same week recently, so that's impacted the planting process quite a bit," said David Nicolai, a University of Minnesota Extension Educator in Crops. "We've had some planting progress in southeastern Minnesota thanks to the warmer temperatures, but that rapidly decreased as you move across the state."
Some of the latest rainfall is helping portions of the state. The U.S. Drought Monitor released Tuesday had 7.88 percent of Minnesota in moderate drought and 44.49 percent in abnormally dry conditions. Both numbers showed decreases compared to the week before.
"So the rain a little bit is welcome and it's infiltrating and helping in those particular areas," Nicolai said. "I think some of the areas of concern are right along those flood areas. We're going to see if it in the Red River Valley and the Red River as it flows north back into Canada. That will impact those areas and we'll probably have overland flooding in the Red River Valley."
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Soil temperatures remain the biggest hurdle for farmers hoping to get their planting season underway. Nicolai said that soil temperatures were warm, but instead of being 63 degrees at the two-inch level, those temps dropped down to 46 degrees when farmers prefer to see soil temperatures in the 50s to plant corn.
"Those soil conditions set us up for an opportunity if we can warm things up and get back to a more normal spring," he said. "There are some indications that if we get back to the 50s next week that will hold. I think the greater impact will be what will be rainfall going forward, beyond that. Not only late April, but into early May."
The latest crop report from the USDA showed three percent of the state's oats had been planted as of April 17, behind the five-year average of 7 percent for this time of year, and slightly ahead of last year’s 1 percent.
"We really have to wait for good soil conditions. Farmers don't want to be planting in muddy conditions because that will impact the corn stand and corn yield. It's not just the temperature, it's the soil conditions in how fit it is. You're goign to have to be patient. Things will happen, they have large machinery and they'll get over the fields in a rapid amount of time. I feel confident that we'll have an opportunity, let's just hope we get warmer temperatures. We can handle the rain a little bit if we get these temps back up."