Most Vermilion County farmers are likely thankful for the deep freeze this week, as this time of year it’s often a matter of “how deep is the frost line, and therefore how many pesky insects can be killed off before the new planting season.” But as Vermilion County Farm Bureau spokesperson Tom Fricke reminds us, there’s always some positives and negatives.
AUDIO: The freezing and thawing helps to develop the organic matter in the soil, so that’s always a good thing. If you’re doing tile work and trying to get that done, then of course you don’t want it to freeze. But then it does help through the whole process of being able to keep the soil to be getting ready for the next year.
Meanwhile, angst about input costs, particularly fertilizer, still hangs over the coming planting season.
AUDIO: They’re still hoping to be able to see some of that downward pressure on some of those input prices as we get closer to the spring as the products become more readily available. I think of some it was some supply chain issues, so hopefully that will get resolved. But overall we’re still looking at much higher input costs this year than we were last year. And so good diligent work on making sure you’re only using the inputs you need will help you on your bottom line this year.
Fricke says farmers will no doubt be getting itchy when March comes about, but as always you can’t really look at the calendar, but at the conditions instead.
