Gene Meiwes can?t help but keep a sunny disposition, regardless of the weather.
When one of the wettest springs in recent memory threatened to derail much of the farm work for scores of area producers, Meiwes remained patient, and optimistic.
?It was kind of a blessing and a curse,? Meiwes said this week.
First, the bad stuff.
Meiwes, who farms upward of 2,000 acres across the northern part of Allen County ? including several properties he rents ? admitted his wheat harvest was subpar.
?There were some fungicides and things like that to help in wet weather, but we didn?t feel like it was cost effective to do so,? Meiwes said.
Then, incessant rains through May pushed the corn planting back several weeks.
?We didn?t get all of the corn planted until June 4,? Meiwes noted. ?It was real late, after what the government considers its deadline. But we already had the fertilizer and chemicals in there, so it makes it hard to do something else. We were pretty much committed.
?But we were lucky,? he continued. ?We had only one 50-acre field that we had to replant.
?The beans are looking good, too. Some guys had trouble getting it in, but we were able to do so.?
(Getting the crops in meant working until about midnight, running home to get a quick nap, and get back into the fields by 4 or 5 in the morning.)
?It?s nothing unusual,? he said. ?I know lots of neighbors who have had to do that. You know you have a short window to do things.?
And now that the rainy weather has been firmly supplanted with hot, humid weather ? uncomfortable for humans, but ideal for plant life ? Meiwes?s corn and soybean production could reach ?bumper crop? levels this fall.
But much remains up in the air, nearly all of which is dictated by Mother Nature.
?There was so much rainfall, that root system (for both corn and soybean plants) is not that far into the ground. It?s always better if you?re a little dry at the start, that way the roots go down.?
Now, if an extended hot, dry period arrives, those shallow roots, too, will dry out too early.
