Farm Director KC Sheperd is talking with Brian Threlkeld, a soybean and corn grower from Missouri. Threlkeld talks about the challenges he and others faced in the 2022 growing season.
Because the growing season in Threlkeld’s area started off so wet, he said planting was delayed until mid-May.
“So, we started out from behind, and it was just kind of like a mad rush to get it in,” Threlkeld said. “Once we got it in, we got timely rains until about August, into August or September, and then it turned off kind of dry.”
Threlkeld said he was satisfied with Missouri’s corn and soybean yields in 2022.
“We ended up with an average of about 200-bushel corn and 56 to 57-bushel beans,” Threlkeld said. “So, for us, that’s pretty good.”
Threlkeld also talked about this year’s crop.
“We’ve been done now for almost two weeks, and we turned off really dry,” Threlkeld said. “We keep missing all these rains, and the crop is a little spotty. So, we got some corn that is up six to seven inches tall and in corn in the same field that’s just now coming through the ground and in the claim spots. So, we’re hoping it’s all going to even out here in the next couple of weeks.”
Currently, the biggest challenge for Threlkeld is the direction of commodity prices.
“So, we’re hoping that turns around, for sure,” Threlkeld said. “We’re off to a good start. But you know, we’re, we’re awfully dry for this time of year, that’s a concern to us because, you know, usually we get rained out a time or to put in a crop in and so we’re probably lacking on the subsoil moisture. So right now, I would say that’s one of my concerns.”
