As the U.S. sees an early start to the 2021 planting season, it’s a mixed bag when it comes to soil moisture profiles. Dryness isn’t just showing up on the U.S. Drought Monitor. The latest Crop Progress report from USDA divulged the latest topsoil moisture conditions, with 12 states seeing more than half of its topsoil in short to very short conditions.
USDA says 85% of New Mexico has short to very short topsoil moisture conditions. 77% of Texas is in that category. And 83% of North Dakota is seeing topsoil conditions that are desperately dry.
“We’ve had minuscule amounts of moisture,” says Kim Saueressig, a farmer in McCluskey, North Dakota. “We probably really haven’t seen a decent rain since probably the first week in August last year. Last fall was our fastest harvest we’ve ever had. And so, to go from a wet fall in 2019 and a wet spring in 2020, to now, it’s a total turnaround.”
Soil conditions are so dry, Sauerssig and other area farmers have parked their planters in central and western North Dakota.
Too Wet to Plant
In the mid-South and Southeast, it’s the opposite story unfolding in farm fields. Only 2% of Tennessee’s topsoil moisture is short. With so much moisture, farmers are seeing a delayed planting season.
With some warm temperatures hitting this week, Brad Warren, a farmer in southeastern North Carolina, says he’s finally able to kick off corn planting, but now it’s a game of catch-up.
“We’re probably a week to a week and a half behind when we would normally start,” he says. “We normally would start last week of March, and it was last week before we got started, so the first of April.”
Warren says if the window to plant in the next couple weeks gets cut short, he and other area farmers may considering switching acres from corn to crops such as cotton or soybeans.
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