COLUMBUS, Ohio — As farmers embark on their next planting season, they are cautious of putting seed in the ground ahead of cold and wet weather conditions.

What You Need To Know

  • Each week from Spring through Fall, the United States Department of Agriculture releases a Crop Progress & Condition Report

  • According to the report, cold temperatures prevented some farmers from planting

  • Wet weather mixed with cold temperatures can cause major setbacks for farmers looking to plant their crop

The Ohio Field Office of the National Agriculture Statistics Service, through the United States Department of Agriculture, releases a Crop Progress & Condition Report.

The report is released from the start of spring through the end of fall.

According to the report, "field conditions were largely favorable, but last week’s temperature fluctuations deterred farmers from planting."

"A farmer wants to get into the field as early as possible, so they have a nice long growing season and get the crop out of the field before fall frosts come into play, but there's a risk-reward scenario if you get in too early and then you have the cold, wet days like we've had in many parts of Ohio for the past, gosh, two weeks, then you might have some challenges getting that corn crop or soybeans or whatever," said Spectrum News agriculture expert Andy Vance.

Sometimes farmers are forced to replant.

"That's a very real thing that happens every year because of this kind of risk, reward tradeoff. There are definite benefits to getting in the field early, but if you get the field in, get your crop in the ground, and then it turns cold and particularly cold and wet, that's the killer combination," Vance said. "You can have a seed that either isn't going to germinate properly or you might literally rot underground and not be able to come up."

However, farmers can purchase insurance as protection.

"The number one thing you do is good risk management, crop insurance. So one of the reasons that we spend some money at the federal government level, U.S. Department of Agriculture dollars to subsidize, so to speak, or to underwrite the risk of crop insurance is because it is better for farmers to have that insurance backed by the full faith and credit, so to speak, of the federal government, so they can go in and plant at the right time," Vance said. "Then if something happens, Mother Nature plays a dirty trick,  then they can use crop insurance. It won't necessarily make them whole, but [will] recoup some of the cost of replanting a field, or they'll have what they call prevented planning."