Vermilion County farmers received exactly what they needed; a week of sunshine, warm temperatures, and breezes drying the soil and allowing for big time catch-up on planting corn and soybeans. But as Tom Fricke from the Vermilion County Farm Bureau points out during this Mental Health Awareness Month; farmers need to remember, you want to go-go-go, but you still need to take breaks for both your mental and physical health.
AUDIO: We say we’re under the gun, we’re under pressure to get it done because we’re behind what we’ve been the last few years. But we’re not so late that we don’t have time to take care of ourselves in the process.
Another issue talked about this spring has been, if all the planting happens at once out of necessity, what does that do for the rest of the growing season? In other words the difficulty of doing field work all at once, and then all acres being ready for harvest at once. But Fricke says over recent years, due to modern equipment that can plant more at one time, farmers are prepared for that, by purchasing ahead of time corn and soybean seeds that mature at different rates.
AUDIO: Not all corn matures in the same number of days. So one field may be 104 day corn, one field may be 111 day corn. So some of that spacing will occur just because of the seed they’re planting. And they plan that when they purchase their seeds and put it in the ground so that they can space out the field work when it comes time to harvest in the fall.
Watch for farm equipment moving from field to field along roads, especially during planting season.
And finally, it goes without saying that with the delay to the planting season, more farm vehicles will be on the roads. Please be mentally prepared for this, and please be cautious and understanding.
AUDIO: They are out there, they are doing the best they can to stay out of everybody’s way. But they have to be able to move from farm to field and field to field. And they’re under pressure to get it done as safely as possible. And so motorists need to give everybody a little extra room. As you’re traveling around this equipment, be safe when you’re trying to pass, especially on the busier highways.
Fricke says it’s a two way street: Motorists need to take their foot off the gas as soon as they see that slow-moving vehicle orange emblem, and farmers need to be make sure the emblem is adequately visible.
