Corn, soybeans already being planted in Minnesota thanks to warm winter
WASECA, Minn. — Believe it or not, corn and soybeans were planted near the town of Waseca in late February. That's about a month and half earlier than average.
"This is just one additional sign of an extraordinarily, unusual situation," said Tom Hoverstad.
Hoverstad is a scientist with the University of Minnesota. On Feb. 26, he noticed there was no frost in the ground, the soil was dry and conditions were just right for field work.
"We've just seen a lot of 50-degree temperatures. The day we came out here it was 69 degrees," said Hoverstad.
So, they treated that day like spring, and planted corn, soybeans and wheat at their research center near Waseca. It's something that typically doesn't happen until mid-April, at the earliest.
This has sort of been tried before. In late February of 1987, they planted wheat in this location. But no corn and soybeans.
Hoverstad isn't expecting to have a banner crop with this. Wheat can handle the cold better, but it could be weeks before soil temperatures are warm enough for corn and soybeans to germinate. And being in the ground this early makes them vulnerable to pathogens, but he's not worried about that.
"It worked out very nice. Soils were very mellow. It was nice and dry. We made a very nice seed bed in February, which is rare and that's why we did it, mostly because we could. Not because we should," said Hoverstad.
The hope is that the results will be a planting precedent in case there are more mild winters in the future, and that's what the research and outreach center is known for.
"Things like this, planting, is going to join those types of records. So maybe in 50 years, 100 years, maybe they'll look back and that'll inform other research questions," said Katie Kubat, with the Southern Research and Outreach Center.
When they planted wheat in February 1987, they say the results were good. If the weather continues to comply, they are expecting the same for this wheat too.