Report: Weather slows spring planting in Minnesota

Corn planting
Spring snowstorms and wet weather has put Minnesota farmers behind schedule for spring planting.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

The late arrival of spring weather continues to put Minnesota farmers significantly behind schedule for planting corn and soybeans.

The Minnesota field office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture says in its weekly crop report that there were only 1.8 days suitable for field work last week.

The average temperature was just over 43 degrees, about 7½ degrees below normal.

The report says that 8 percent of the corn crop is planted, up from 1 percent last week but well off the five-year average of 65 percent for the week.

It's a similar story for soybeans. Virtually none of the crop is planted while the five-year average for this time of year is 11 percent.

Statewide topsoil moisture supplies are rated 1 percent short, 67 percent adequate, and 32 surplus. None of it was ranked very short.

Planting for spring wheat, oats and sugarbeets is also well behind the five-year averages for each crop.

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