Q: What’s your biggest challenge during planting?
A: Spring is a very hectic time for us. A lot needs to happen in a short amount of time. Detailed planning and Mother Nature’s willingness to cooperate helps out tremendously. The biggest challenge is making all this happen in a smooth, timely manner – from the field-to-field selection of seed varieties and plan of fertilization to each field’s tillage practice to prepare the seedbed. Then it is getting things planted during optimum conditions. Planting is your first stake in raising a crop. You do not want to plant when it’s too wet nor too dry, and you want seedlings to emerge at the same time, and evenly. If this does not happen you have already lost potential top-end yield or increase the need to replant entire fields. When we have the field worked and planted, it is time to apply products to keep that field rid of weeds. Weeds pull nutrients and moisture from the soil as well as shade out the crop, which hinders yield. Getting these tasks done in small windows of time presents challenges as well as stress, but we always put in the hours to get it done and make the best of it all.
Andrew Murray raises soybeans, corn and pigs, sells seed and drives semis to haul grain, oilseeds and other products. He farms in Jersey County.
See more: Ask a Farmer: How Do You Decide What to Plant Each Year?
