Driving in Northern Ohio this morning, I couldn’t help but notice how few fields are planted. I stopped here and there to take photos of empty, unplanted land.
There were a few farmers out today, spraying or planting before the rain came, but most fields still have puddles in them.
The USDA says of Ohio:
■ As of June 2 only 33 percent of Ohio’s corn acreage and 18 percent of the state’s soybean acreage had been planted.
■ By this time of year, at least 90 percent of corn should have been planted, and 79 percent of soybeans should have been planted. And that’s based only on the most recent five-year average. Years ago plantings were made much earlier in the spring.
■ Ohio’s whopping 57 percent deviation from its most recent average for corn is second only to Indiana’s 63 percent deviation. Numerous other states have fallen far off pace, as well, because of soaked fields that haven’t been able to dry out enough to plant.
■ Ohio was down 61 percent from its most recent five-year average for planting soybeans as of June 2.
But that figures in Southern and Central Ohio, who have not gotten as much rain as us up here. In northwest Ohio it is believed that less than 10 percent of the corn acreage has been planted, possibly even less than 5 percent. I would say that is accurate, from my drive today.
A few fields were planted, and there was some winter wheat growing. Much of the wheat plantings looked spare and bare because they were too wet to survive. A few other farmers were out spraying or planting, but mostly small tractors in small acreage. They were likely planting Roundup Ready soybeans, spraying and planting at the same time. It probably wasn’t corn, though maybe it was sweet corn. Most corn used to be planted in April. Planting it after the Memorial Day weekend was almost unthinkable 25 or 30 years ago. But with climate change, the unthinkable is here.
Even if their farms dry out enough to plant corn in another week or two, the growing season is now so short that it won’t be worth the time, seed and effort because the yields will be so small.
According to the Toledo Blade,
The last day for farmers to file for full insurance coverage in event they get insufficient yields of corn this summer was June 5. Each day after that, according to the federal Farm Bill, coverage must be reduced by 1 percent daily, meaning that — for example — farmers who file by June 10 would only be eligible for 95 percent coverage. No filings for corn are allowed after June 25.
The filing date for full insurance coverage on soybean losses is June 20, with similar penalties for filing after that.
And that’s just for what’s been planted. Farmers who aren’t able to plant seed in the first place file for a type of crop insurance known as “prevented planting,” in which they become eligible to receive 55 to 60 percent of their most recent, average earnings.
The payouts are designed to help farmers being bankrupted by any one bad growing season — and hope the following year is better.
Crop insurance is akin to temporarily living off disability insurance, when recipients often must live off 60 percent of their normal paychecks.
I took this video today. There was a 360 degree vista of unplanted cropland. The green you see in some of the fields are weeds, because they haven’t been sprayed with herbicides yet. Turn down the sound, because the wind noise is pretty bad. Scattered storms are predicted for tonight.
While some are saying that this will not affect food prices, I think it will. When combined with the losses of stored grains from this spring’s flooding and the negative effects from the tariff policies, I think food prices, especially meat prices, will likely go up significantly. And of course, this will stress our farmers even more. I’m sure there will be foreclosures locally because of this, because some of our farmers are on the edge.