soybean field

Angela "Annie" Dee - Aliceville, Alabama

Farm:  Annie grows soybeans, corn, wheat and rye and raises beef cattle with her brother, two sons and niece in Aliceville, Ala. They practice extensive use of cover crops to improve overall soil health. She and her husband, Ed, have five children, Rachel, Seth, Jesse, Mary and Martha, and five grandchildren. This is Annie’s third year as a USB director.
Annie Dee:

Annie Dee in her corn field, where planting should be completed this week.
Annie Dee in her corn field, where planting should be completed this week.
Annie Dee poses with her planter in a soybean field, where soybean planting will begin this week.
Annie Dee poses with her planter in a soybean field, where soybean planting will begin this week.

May 5, 2014—We are still experiencing non-stop rain every few days, which has kept up out of the fields and has delayed planting, but we have made progress since last report.
We are very close to having all of our corn planted. Once it is complete, we will immediately begin planting our soybeans. We are hoping to have all of our soybeans in the ground by the end of this week.
One challenge we didn’t anticipate experiencing last week was tornadoes. We had a few blow through the area. We had enough warning, though, that we were able to prepare. We put one planter in the barn and left one in the field, so we would have access to one in case the other was damaged. Fortunately, we were very lucky and our farm did not experience much damage from the storms.
Even though we have been delayed in planting, I would like our international customers to know that we expect a good crop this year. We are still very hopeful for a good year. We just need to get our soybeans planted, which is our main goal the week. We are working with two 16-row planters well into the night to make sure we reach our goal.
Once we get the soybeans planted, they should basically jump out of the ground. The land is warm enough that they should thrive from the very beginning.