View From the Cab             05/19 04:55

   Farmers Juggle Hurry-Up-And-Wait Crop Planting Schedule

   Planting delays start to add up as the calendar rolls past mid-May. This 
week View From the Cab farmers talk about planting progress.

Pamela Smith
Crops Technology Editor

   DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- Quint Pottinger got an early start on spring planting 
this year, but the last few weeks have been a waiting game.

   "We get a few hours from pulling in the field and it rains us out again," 
said Pottinger, who farms in central Kentucky near New Haven. "I'll be 
honest--between the weather and the commodity markets, this spring has already 
been stressful. These delays also compress everything that comes next on our 
operations calendar, such as spraying and sidedressing."

   Dan Lakey doesn't exactly like the hurry-up-and-wait dance either, but it 
happens nearly every year in southeastern Idaho. Spring kicked off in April for 
him this year, which is a tad early from typical. But the farmer, who lives in 
Soda Springs, and farms at high elevations, ran into a rainy, snowy slog in May 
that has put him back to about average progress.

   Lakey and Pottinger are reporting in as part of DTN's View From the Cab 
feature. The series follows what's happening in the field and covers rural 
topics through the growing season.

   This week the farmers talk about crop progress, new farming practices being 
tried and how weather is cooperating or complicating life.

   DTN ag meteorologist John Baranick said the good news is both farming 
regions are starting off the year with good soil moisture. "The weather pattern 
in both areas has definitely been active and will likely stay that way for the 
next week," noted Baranick.

   "It doesn't mean both locations get hit with anything substantial, but they 
are in line for at least some chances for more rain. It looks like a lot of 
up-and-down temperatures as systems move through.

   "For Soda Springs, the mountains can play tricks too, resulting in sometimes 
significantly warmer or colder conditions than the forecast," he said.

   In New Haven, this active pattern is also more likely to create chances for 
more rain and shorter planting windows. Baranick added.  

   "We'll be on the lookout for La Nina to flip the pattern and get hotter and 
drier conditions into the area this summer. That's a big unknown and something 
that could turn this season into a sort of Jekyll and Hyde type of weather 
pattern, maybe like what we saw last year. And that doesn't go for just central 
Kentucky, that goes for the entire Corn Belt," he added.

   That's farming, though. "Kentucky. No season like the last. No way to 
predict the next," Pottinger wrote in social media posts this week. Read on to 
learn more about what's happening on their respective farms and some of the 
tactics they use to diffuse the worry.

   DAN LAKEY: SODA SPRINGS, IDAHO

   If Dan Lakey wants some quiet time, all he must do is nose the tractor in 
the direction of what he calls the "North Farm" where he farms several thousand 
acres and cell service is almost non-existent.

   "There's one place in a field where I can pop up on a ridge and get a text 
message out or maybe a 30-second call. But mostly it means we have to be very 
good at planning before we leave each day," Lakey said.

   "We never want a breakdown, but if we have one there, it can mean a 30-mile 
drive to get a part," he said.

   This extra planning and communicating among the farming team isn't all bad 
because there are a lot of moving parts to this operation. Life was simpler 
when the farm grew mostly wheat. But these days, Lakey Farms depends on a 
diverse mix of a dozen crops spread over 75 fields branching out some 50 miles 
from the main farm headquarters.

   "We start out each year with a plan of what we want to grow on each field, 
but it is constantly changing as we discover new opportunities with specialty 
contracts or realize the ground needs something different for the rotation than 
what we had planned," he said.

   All this makes for interesting discussions with the crop insurance salesman. 
And then, there's a lot of recordkeeping involved, such as making sure residual 
herbicides line up right with subsequent crops. Lakey depends on John Deere 
Operations Center to keep things straight, but he still likes to keep written 
notes.

   "Yeah, I'm a little bit old-school, but it helps plant things in my mind 
when I write it down," he said.

   Lakey pulled into his first field to begin seeding on April 15 this year. 
That's about two weeks earlier than he usually starts. But blizzards showed 
back up in early May and slowed progress. He finished planting spring wheat 
this week and was getting ready to plant some triticale and durum, to be 
followed by barley.

   "We're about on average for getting seed in the ground. It's been really 
cold and we're fighting muddy conditions. Our goal is to be done by the end of 
May, but that rarely happens. We always linger a week or two into June getting 
finished up," he said.

   The farm runs three drills, John Deere 730, a cultivation type seeder that 
has been modified to run as a direct seeder; a John Deere 1890 no-till drill, 
and a K-Hart double-disc no-till drill that Lakey says will seed into almost 
anything.

   "I'm still on a quest to make every drill better and figure out a way to 
plant acres more efficiently," he said.

   Lakey's grandfather was a 24/7 farmer. His father, he said, was easier going 
during stressful situations and believed in a life balance. "We knew if he got 
worked up about something, it meant something was really wrong," he said. "I 
hope that as I get older, I'm more like my dad.

   "It seems like whether we are early or late with the crop, it always works 
out. It's kind of a trial of faith that if you do your part and try your 
hardest, things will line up," he said, noting he did stay in the field until 2 
a.m. one night this week.

   "There are times when we get worried if we see a storm coming in and know 
that we need to pick up the pace," he said. "Or in the case of this week, I 
just wanted to finish the field and start the next day off with it done."

   He was also doing a little makeup work for taking a family outing last week 
to watch the American Motorcycle Association Supercross Championships in Salt 
Lake, Utah. Lakey, who grew up riding and racing motorcycles, is now watching 
his children become involved in the sport. For a hot minute, he wondered 
whether he should stay home in case fields firmed up.

   "The ground wasn't fit to be planted when we left, and I just tried to shut 
off all the thoughts about the farm while I was gone," he said. "When I got 
back on Monday, things were still a little wet.

   "I left a corporate job and came back to the farm because we wanted to 
prioritize our family life," Lakey added. He gives his wife, Marie, a lot of 
credit for carrying the burden when farming must come first.

   "Every farmer makes their own choices about what balance is right for them," 
he said. "It's not always easy to make those decisions and we can sure bring 
stress on ourselves when we start second guessing."

   QUINT POTTINGER: NEW HAVEN, KENTUCKY

   Quint Pottinger also got a good head start on planting in April, but things 
slowed down with May rains.

   "It's like we're always just almost there," he said.  "If we knew it was 
going to rain for eight weeks consistently, I'd probably roll the dice. But I 
also know if those wet plantings ever dry out for a two-week period and it 
turns hot, we'd pay the price on yield," he said.

   The adage of "plant the weather and not the calendar" has a deadline for 
Pottinger. He has about 800 acres of corn and 500 acres of soybeans left to 
plant this spring. He was 30% planted on May 15, which is typically the date he 
likes to have things wrapped up. He was hoping to further along the planted 
percentage considerably this weekend or early next week.

   The crops that are planted already have emerged and look great, minus a few 
wet holes in the field, he said.

   Beyond possible yield hits, there's a logistical domino effect of later 
planting in this area. Winter wheat harvest will now likely fall in the middle 
of the timing for sidedressing corn with nitrogen and when postemergence 
herbicides need applied on soybeans. The need to be timely with those 
operations means wheat harvest could get delayed, which pushes the planting of 
double-crop soybeans further out on the calendar. Delaying double-crop soybeans 
can lead to yield sacrifices, especially if rains don't materialize in the 
summer.

   Pottinger is trying relay cropping this year on 30 acres. On March 30, he 
direct seeded soybeans into standing rye and a few acres of wheat that will be 
harvested for grain (see photo). Some farmers achieve the practice by splitting 
the row or leaving a skip row, but Pottinger doesn't have reliable RTK guidance 
in his area to keep the planter lined up. Instead, he planted the soybeans on a 
15-to-20-degree angle to the already growing winter cereal crop.

   The only intercropping adjustment he made to the planter was to lift the row 
cleaners. "It takes some mental adjustments to run over a crop like that, but 
it didn't seem to hurt it," he said. The cereal crop was growing so 
aggressively this year that he planted the soybeans a little earlier than he 
originally intended.

   Pottinger said the practice should help conserve moisture and it gets the 
soybeans planted much earlier than waiting to double-crop. He'll be watching to 
see how weed control pans out. The farm is all non-GMO, so he won't be able to 
go back in with glyphosate to address grass issues. Other herbicide options are 
more costly.

   Pottinger wishes he could worry less when Mother Nature throws curveballs 
and causes delays. He's also had a couple of odd planter repair issues this 
season that have added to the frustrations.

   Having reliable help is key to dealing with times when the challenges can 
overwhelm, he noted. "I have a really good team on the farm. We cut up. We get 
along. We learn from each other. When the weather gets tough like it has this 
spring, they pull together and really help me cope with things that weigh on my 
mind," Pottinger said.

   Pottinger and his wife, Leah, try to take several trips a year to unplug and 
learn more about the world beyond the farmgate. But their favorite way to deal 
with daily stressors is to head out in their Jeep truck. With the doors off and 
the music blaring, they check fields or just drive and spend time together.

   Find DTN's profile of Quint Pottinger here: 
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/farm-life/article/2024/05/05/kentu
cky-farm-value-adds-opportunity

   Dan Lakey's profile can be found here: 
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/news/farm-life/article/2024/05/12/idaho
-farming-6-000-feet

   Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

   Follower her on social platform X @PamSmithDTN




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