:quality(70):focal(276x313:286x323)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/shawmedia/PJOVHACEGRHITH3QTBIJAB6DJU.jpg)
WESTFIELD, Ind. — Farmers can expect favorable planting conditions compared to last year’s spring months, according to Matt Teply, a technical team agronomist for LG Seeds and certified crop adviser.
After reviewing data available from WeatherTrends360 — the weather service built into the Mix Matters Tool that uses statistics, 100-plus years of historical weather data and 24 oceanic climate cycles to provide an 11-month forecast — Teply expects to see warmer soils and improved moisture levels compared to last year’s planting months.
“Especially for those in the High Plains, the weather at planting is looking more favorable than last year,” he said. “In April and May, the western Corn Belt and High Plains areas can expect to see an increase in rain from last year. Although it won’t be enough to resolve their current drought conditions, it is surely an improvement.”
Teply said it is important to analyze the predicted low temperatures, especially in April and May. This is critical to ensure the temperature doesn’t drop below optimum levels for seedling health.
“WeatherTrends360 is predicting warmer averages for much of the country, so we can expect that low temperatures this year will be warmer than last year, on average,” Teply said. “I’m expecting this to bring us warmer early soil temps at planting.”
Having weather insights is important when creating hybrid plan, but Teply admitted it’s challenging for farmers consider all the data available to them. He suggested the Mix Matters Tool for working through the field planning process and to relieve some of the data analysis process.
“If farmers aren’t sure what to make of all this weather data, the Mix Matters Tool can certainly help with that,” he said. “It will use your location and factor in weather forecasts like this to identify hybrids that will perform well in your fields next season. It’s a great tool to take advantage of.”
The Mix Matters Tool combines environment and weather data with a farmer’s management style to individually select hybrids for each field. By using the Mix Matters Tool for simplified product placement, farmers can identify the hybrids that will perform on each individual field, not just their best ground.
LG Seeds, based in Westfield, Indiana, is a producer and marketer of corn, soybean, sorghum and alfalfa seed sold through a network of professional STAR Partner dealers.