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Farmers begin prep work for planting season

By Clayton Baumgarth

Posted April 17, 2023

Dennis Carnahan sprays a field with herbicide to a prospective soybean field. (Clayton Baumgarth - WFIU/WTIU)

Farmers like Dennis Carnahan have been waiting for weeks for the rains to take a break so they can get in the fields. This week, they’re starting to spray the fields in preparation for planting.

“We're just easing our way into it today,” Carnahan said. “In various locations, we got John and Brandon, they're applying nitrogen for corn fields. And today, I'm applying an herbicide for some prospective soybean acres.”

By hopping in the sprayer now, Carnahan hopes to have some crops planted by the end of the month.

“We had a wet spring a year ago, and the first day the planters run was May the second,“ he said. “You know, we'd like to get some if not all of our crop planted in April. That just didn't happen because of weather conditions, and it'll be late April at best, maybe 10 field working days or more before we can get the planters to roll in here.”

Read more: Number of farms in Indiana decreased slightly in 2022

The Carnahan family has been in the Wheatland area since 1937, when Dennis’s parents began working on 200 rented acres. Now, the farm owns nearly 4000 acres, and works yellow corn, soybeans and winter wheat.

Like other farms, last year’s harvest ranged from average to great, with the Carnahans having record yields in one crop.

“We did have a record wheat crop, it was our best ever,” he said. “And so we're grateful for that. The corn, we just finished sending out the last loads of that about a week ago. And so that averaged over 200 bushels an acre. We're grateful for that, too.”

The problem for the entire agriculture industry this season continues to be decreasing profit margins brought on by the high costs of fertilizer and diesel. This season, Dennis is less worried about input prices and more concerned about the lowering of crop prices.

“Wheat’s a little softer, so it's a little concerning, and then corn and soybeans are also softer than they were a year ago or even last, you know, four months ago,” he said. “We're hopeful that we can sell for above our cost of production. We worked really hard in the offseason to develop those spreadsheets and know our input costs for each bushel of corn and soybeans and wheat.”

But cost and potentially the weather will be the themes for the 2023 crop season.

Read more: Farm Bureau outlines priorities for legislative session

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