Dwain Ford finished planting his soybeans this week, which are starting to emerge.
Farm:  Dwain and his wife, Melba, own Ford Farms and M&D Seed Company in Kinmundy, Ill., where they produce and market soybeans, corn and wheat. Their family includes son, Shannon; his wife, Misty; son, Ryan; his wife, Carrie; and four grandchildren. This is Dwain’s sixth year as a USB Director.
Dwain Ford:
This week we’ve had some quick showers, although we’re still pretty dry and could use some more water. We finished planting all our soybeans about three days ago, which has gone smoothly. Without rain, we were able to plant all the soybeans at once. We checked them today, and you can start to see the rows of beans, so we shouldn’t have to replant any. We have had to replant some of our corn though because of water damage—we just had to patch in some spots.
There are still farmers in my area planting corn, but most are planting soybeans. A few of us have finished planting, but those doing soybeans now are putting them in pretty quickly. Our goal this week is to get all the soybeans sprayed. Also, I’m predicting that we’ll start harvesting wheat within the next two to three weeks. So we’re getting the combine ready, then we’ll start double cropping the soybeans and wheat. We no-till the soybeans into the wheat stubble.
Overall, it’s been a good week for our soybeans—nothing out of the ordinary. Some farmers in my area have had problems with armyworms on their wheat, but there hasn’t been any damage to the soybeans because they aren’t large enough and haven’t fully emerged. It looks like if everything stays the same and progresses as it should, we’ll have a good start to our soybeans. Most of the weeds have been controlled, so we have the opportunity for a good soybean crop this year.
Dwain is harvesting his wheat in two to three weeks, then will no-till soybeans into the wheat stubble.