2023 Between the Rows

Lawrence Onweller

Corn and soybean planting got finished up on May 19 early in the morning and the spraying is caught up. Then that night we got four tenths of an inch of rain, so that was just about ideal. Stuff sprouted really quickly because it’s been warm enough. 

It seems like in this area there’s almost more corn to go yet. There was quite a bit of corn planted around here the middle of the week. Guys in this area have been planting beans ahead of corn but there’s not a lot of acres left to go up here yet. The planting conditions were really nice last week.

Planting took around six to seven days total for both corn and soybeans. If the weather cooperates, with the machinery we have nowadays, we are able to do that. The equipment we have compared to what we used to have is amazing.… Continue reading

(Update as of May 5)

Kyle Nietfeld

We’ve seen snow and rain here the last couple days. The snow was not accumulating, but there were some flakes flying around. In the last week, we’ve had almost two inches of rain. There were a few small, short downpours but mostly it was just wet, misty and drizzly. Currently, it’s nice out and it’s starting to dry off on the top. Ideally, we could get back in on Monday, but I think there’s an 80% chance of rain in the forecast this Saturday to Sunday. If we get missed, I would say on some of the drier ground we could be going on Monday.

I heard soil temperatures were as low as 38 or 39 degrees last weekend. I’m guessing after the nice sunny day yesterday and again this morning, I would say by this afternoon they’ll be in the 50s again. This area is maybe only 10% to 15% planted.… Continue reading

Lawrence Onweller

With the nice weather, it worked out really well. We were able to get all the fertilizer spread and get the tiling finished up. We had a cold snap there just after the nice weather then we got some rain. When it dries off again, things will be ready to go. There were a few guys in the area that got some crops planted. I’ve got a friend in the area that got 220 acres of corn planted and a bunch of other guys started to plant beans. That gave them an opportunity to get the bugs out and get things working so they’ll be ready to go when the weather’s ready to go. There was also tillage and that type of stuff going on. With that nice weather, it’s hard for a farmer just to stay inside.

When it dries out next time, we’ll be getting closer to the end of April.… Continue reading

Lawrence Onweller

I started farming with my father-in-law and my brother in 1980. Then my father-in-law retired and my brother-in-law went to work at Mazda, so I pretty much took over the farm in the mid 80s. At that time it was a little tough.

Now we raise corn and soybeans. I’m pretty much semi-retired and I have a young man that has worked for me take over. He is doing the farming and making the decisions. It is kind of nice.

We have some really good dirt, but we also have yellow sand. It’s droughty and we usually have dry weather in the summer so that really dings us on yield. We have some heavier ground that’s challenging too, but compared to a lot of guys, our heavy ground is their good ground, so we’re blessed with that.

Being near Lake Erie has been challenging, but it’s also been good because it makes us better farmers and better stewards of the land when you have people watching like that.… Continue reading