By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan farmers are making up ground planting crops. Rainy spring weather delayed fieldwork throughout much of the state, but a break in the weather last week had farmers back in the fields.

Jason Haag, who farms about 2,500 acres with his father, Tom Haag, in Tuscola and Huron counties, said rain hasn’t dampened their spirit this year.

“Our crops are all planted,” he said of their more than 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans. “Some of our corn is three to four inches tall, and the corn we planted a week ago is starting to spike through.”
Haag said they were lucky so far with rainfall. “We didn’t receive as much moisture as the Lansing and West Michigan areas.” However, he is concerned about future rainfall.

“It has a way of averaging out over the growing season,” he said. “Some areas have had quite a lot of moisture. It could still turn out dry.

“We had some corn that had been in the ground about three weeks and it was struggling to get through the crust. We got about one-and-a-half tenths of rain last week. It was just enough moisture to let the rest of our corn emerge. Our soybeans are just coming through the ground.”

The majority of their remaining ground will be planted to dry beans.
“We’re still planting a few soybeans here and there. With soybeans at $9 to $10, it’s kind of hard not to keep planting more when you’re getting good planting conditions,” he said.

Haag said one struggle for their crops is cool temperatures. “If we don’t get the warm weather, I think there’s going to be some low yields,” he said.

According to the Michigan Field Office of the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service crop report for the week ending May 17, only 42 percent of the state’s corn crop was planted, as compared with 82 percent in 2008. Of that, 6 percent of the corn had emerged, compared to 31 percent one year ago.
Soybeans have also been slow to get in the ground, with 15 percent planted and only 1 percent emerged. That is compared to 48 percent planted at this same time last year, with 6 percent emerged.

Last week started out slow, with precipitation varying from 0.63 inches in the western Upper Peninsula to 1.53 inches in the west-central Lower Peninsula. Just two weeks ago some farmers were basically at a standstill, with some areas of the state receiving as much as five inches of rain, that left standing water in many areas.
Bob Boehm, manager of the Michigan Farm Bureau Commodity and Marketing Department, said constant moisture in some areas is wreaking havoc for farmers.

“We’re hearing about highly variable conditions across the state. In some areas it’s more or less business as usual, but in other areas planting has been at a virtual standstill,” he said. “For those producers who have been delayed, the clock is ticking.”

Despite the planting delays, the USDA has not adjusted its outlook for U.S. corn-planted acreage, which is estimated at 85 million acres. But some analysts predict it may be reduced up to 1 million acres, according to American Farm Bureau Federation Economist Terry Francl. He and Boehm predict most of the acres would shift to soybeans.

“If the rain delays and cool weather continues for another week or two, acreage could drop by as much as 1.5 million to 2 million acres,” Francl said.

“Ideally, you’d have corn in the ground by the end of May. If that doesn’t look feasible, a grower may opt to move on to the next field crop in Michigan’s spring planting cycle, which is soybeans,” Boehm added.

In other crop progress, the wet spring has helped alfalfa growth. According to the NASS report, “alfalfa was growing well and the crop was at least 15 inches tall. Reports of weevil larvae feeding continued.” Wheat was progressing throughout the state, but some growers have reported signs of powdery mildew and expect Septoria in coming weeks. According to the report, some fields drowned in heavy rainfall and some are expected to be replanted to corn or soybeans.

Fruit continues to make progress, although it’s too early to know if patchy frost throughout the week will impact fruit set.

“Apples were in full bloom in the Grand Rapids area and in petal fall in the southeast and southwest. Peaches were in full bloom in the west-central and in shuck in the southwest, where the crop potential looked very good,” the NASS report stated.
Strawberries were in early bloom in the southeast and southwest, but many growers made ice for frost control. Other fruit crops, including sweet and tart cherries, blueberries and pears, were progressing but wet conditions “continue to stifle fungicide spraying.”

The drier weather also allowed vegetable growers to get caught up on field activities. Asparagus harvest progressed slowly with some sites reporting minor damage from frost earlier in the week. Carrot and onion planting were progressing. However, in Grand Rapids, some growers reported onions were hurt by excessive moisture from the week before.

Other growers reported loss of sweet corn in some early-planted fields due to cold, wet soils.

On muck soils, progress continued with celery, red beets, radishes and leeks. Peas were six to eight inches tall and close to flowering.