Planting Time

It is planting time but many farmers can't plant!

The ground here is dry enough to plant but the threat of rain each day is keeping planters out of the fields.

I wrote about faith yesterday and it takes great faith to borrow money and plant a crop knowing you will get back more than you put in. It is taking great faith to do that this year!

It takes great patience to wait and do it right so your faith is fully excericized. Farmers are having their faith and patience tested right now.

One good thing that happened along the way is the market seemed to have turned direction and posted good gains Wednesday. Hopefully the fear of pandemic and failing economies will be over ridden by the need for our harvest. We really need to lock in a profit on this new crop.

I was surprised to see no planters planting Wednesday and even saw some neighbors chisel plowing a wet farm. Spraying is being done every time the wind dies down and that has only been early morning and late evening at best.

This long winter just hasn't wanted to let go and every time a wind blows up you can feel the cold of the north as the warmth of the Gulf tries to over ride it. The result is little planting progress in Ohio and I am sure many other places, too.

Now is the time to excercize that great faith and patience a farmer needs to survive. It seems like we have planned each detail to the point we can make a little change when that opportunity arises. Just getting the seed in the ground and fed and the weeds controlled is a big challenge this year.

Next Month I am sure we will be looking at a whole new set of challenges!

I hope we are up to those challenges!

Ed Winkle