In the Worthington Globe, Julie Buntjer reports in Area counties report thousands of unplanted acres in 2019:
More than 19.4 million acres of farmland across the country didn’t get planted this year due to flooding and frequent spring rains, according to a new report issued Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Just in the six counties of far southwest Minnesota, nearly 224,000 acres did not get planted this spring. Farmers in northwest Iowa fared a bit better, but still had between 7,000 and 8,000 acres unplanted in each of Lyon, Osceola and Dickinson counties.
Murray County had the highest number of acres classified as prevented plant with the USDA Farm Service Agency at 65,250.
David Schreiber, executive director of the Farm Service Agency in Murray and Rock counties, said the largest share of prevent plant acres was through central Murray County. . . .
To add a bit of context to the plight of Murray County farmers, the USDA's 2017 Census of Agriculture profile for Murray County reports that 395,079 acres of farmland are worked in the county, of which 92 percent is cropland. The prevented plant of 65,250 acres is a significant slice of the cropland.
Read the details at the Globe, including the measures the farmers can take to eek out an existance from those idled acres.
Photo: It's been pretty moist in Southwestern Minnesota. Via an earlier report in the Worthington Globe.
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