A local agriculture expert shares that wet conditions have led to a delay in this year’s crop planting season.

According to Dallas County ISU Extension Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson, the county has experienced wetter conditions than most of the state this spring. 

“That has understandably significantly slowed planting progress as well as the progress for all of the other field work that we need to get done in the spring. It wasn’t until the beginning of the week of (April) 20th that people really started to get into the field. And it’s been a little bit stop and start since then, at least until this most recent window that’s opened up where we’ve had some drier weather. But unfortunately, it’s also come with cooler conditions.”

She details that with the wetter conditions, farmers will need to pay closer attention to planter settings and weed management.

“Because our planting season has been delayed this spring, a lot of them are contending with emerging weeds that we typically don’t see at the time of planting. And so we’ve had to see some people sort of alter their herbicide programs or their weed management plans in order to make sure that they’re doing a good job of managing those weeds that are present out there when we normally would get to them before they were up out of the ground.” 

While the planting season has been slower than in the past few years, Anderson says Dallas County farmers could make progress with drier conditions. She anticipates that the area will be over 50% planted by the end of the week.