The lead agronomist for North Dakota-based Peterson Farms Seed says drought is not a big concern in the Upper Midwest.
Rick Swenson tells Brownfield while 2020 was on the dry side, abundant moisture the previous three years made a lasting impact.
“We were so wet coming off the fall of ’17, and all of ’18, and record precipitation across the Dakotas and Minnesota in ’19. It was such a wet, wet year that a lot of areas were still 50 percent (prevent plant) again this year just because it was that wet.”
However, he says by late summer drought-like conditions were creeping up into central South Dakota through northwest North Dakota.
