The Field Report

March 19, 2024|

Machinery and Tile Repairs While Awaiting Warmer Weather

Trent Brandenburg is enjoying the first day of Spring finishing up some machinery repairs. His fieldwork right now involves fixing broken field tiles and clearing waterways to ensure good drainage during the crop year. Trent has not started serious field work to begin planting yet. “It’s too cold,” he said. He wants a warmer soil temperature in order to get quick germination when he sows his corn and soybean seed.

Trent does not plan any changes in his planting or in his crop protection investment this year. Despite farm publications observing
cutbacks in crop protection chemical purchases, Trent does not plan any cuts. “You shoot yourself in the foot,” he said. “You gotta have a crop to sell,” even when the market price is low.

More from The Field Report

Gonna Be A Lo-o-o-ng Harvest

October 22, 2019|

Trent is about 35% done with his corn harvest. He wants to get his beans out first. The corn maturity is also irregular and spread-out for the same reasons as the beans.

Recent Rains Helped Corn And Beans

September 3, 2019|

Trent visited the Farm Progress Show in Decatur this week, to keep up with new developments and enjoy the friendly greetings of the various ag sales people.

Corn Looks “Amazingly Well” For Bad Planting Conditions

July 9, 2019|

Trent Brandenburg said, "The corn looks amazingly well for the conditions it was planted in. He continued, "Beans are a different story. There aren't any nice-looking bean fields because of the spotty germination."

Latest Planting Year Ever Experienced

June 3, 2019|

Trent Brandenburg says 2019 is the latest planting year he ever experienced. At the end of May, he has planted NO soybeans and has about 140 acres of corn left to plant. His earliest-planted corn (April) is up 8 to 12 inches and looking good. The rest of his corn "is all over the place, from 3 to 4 inches tall on up." None of his seed was planted in ideal conditions, "but the calendar says you have to," Trent added wryly.

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