Crop Update
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May has been a cold and wet and many farmers are struggling to get crops planted. Some for the first time. Others are already replanting. Although a week old, May 18th USDA's crop progress report is probably fairly accurate with the recent rains. Estimates are that only 34% of corn acres are planted in Ohio, with 22% of corn emerged. Emerged acres are probably higher by now. Corn planting progress was behind the 5-year average (48%), but corn emergence was slightly ahead (20%) as of May 18th. For soybeans, 40% of soybean acre were planted and 24% of soybeans emerged. On corn, some farmers got a few acres planted in late April when the air temperatures for a short period of time were warmer. but soil temps were cool. That corn either emerged, rotted or the soil got hard and struggled to emerge. Corn needs to come up within 3 days of each other for optimal yield. Cold wet weather causes many mineral deficiencies since the microbes in the soil are not warmed up and repopulating. Yello...