By Jolene FarleyIn the swing of planting, this year’s season seems to be on track for Rock County farmers so far. "I would say it’s going very good," Rock County Farm Service Director Roger Carlson said. "They’re in full swing."Carlson estimates 60-to-70-percent of the corn crop is planted. This year (as in the last few years) most farmers aren’t forced to detour around wet areas in the fields while planting, Carlson said. "I think planting conditions are excellent this year."Carlson cautioned that subsoil moisture is limited this growing season so most farmers welcomed the two-tenths inch of rain Tuesday evening, even if forced to quit fieldwork for awhile. "We certainly don’t have an abundance of sub-soil moisture," he said."It would certainly benefit all the crops that are planted and help for the future too," he said.Soil moisture content this year was 5.51 inches as of April 15, according to the Southwest Research and Outreach Center, Lamberton.This is in line with historic totals for the same date. "They’re saying we’re about normal for the year," Centrol Agronomic Consultant Mark Moeller said. Typically, crops are dependent on sub-soil moisture during the dryer late summer months. "Right now we’ve got enough to get the crop out of the ground but if it doesn’t rain, we don’t have an abundance in the soil," Moeller said.The last few seasons some farmers have gotten by on timely rains later in the season. Last summer dry conditions became critical.Rock County officials applied to the Department of Agriculture for a federal drought disaster declaration on Aug. 1. Soon after the disaster application, six inches of rain fell in the area. Rainfall in southwest Minnesota was three to six inches below normal until the storm."Overall, the county (crop) average wasn’t that bad but there were some areas that were affected." The northwest portion of the county suffered severe crop losses and Rock County received a disaster declaration.
