spring planting

Minnesota farmers are making progress on planting several field crops, thanks to a week of drier, warmer weather.In its weekly crop weather report for Minnesota on Monday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says farmers statewide had an average of 4.3 days suitable for fieldwork.

Steady rains and cloudy skies continued to slow the spring planting for Minnesota farmers last week. The weekly crop and weather report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture released Tuesday says farmers had only 2.7 days suitable for field work last week.

This could be a critical week for Minnesota farmers, who are running late with spring planting due to soggy fields but have a chance to catch up thanks to good weather forecast for the next few days.

Minnesota farmers took advantage of a small break in the cold, wet weather and have now planted more than a quarter of the state's corn crop. In its weekly crop weather report for Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday corn was 28 percent planted by Sunday, a big jump from 1 percent a week earlier.

Planting progress remains minimal as Minnesota farmers struggle with a soggy spring. In its weekly crop weather report for Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that spring wheat planting inched forward to 3 percent by Sunday. That compares with 96 percent last year at this time, and a five-year average of 41 percent.

Our cold weather has pushed back the spring planting season in Minnesota. University of Minnesota Extension Educator Dan Martens says farmers are about two weeks behind schedule. He says farmers like to have all of their small grains planted by now, and are usually moving on to corn planting by the last week in April.

It's going to be about three more weeks before full-scale fieldwork begins on Minnesota farms. In its first weekly crop-weather report of the season for Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that this winter's heavy snow and below-average temperatures have put spring fieldwork behind last year's pace, but near the five-year average.