By KATIE WISELY
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
It’s been a rough spring for farmers with the constant rain. A lot of the seeds aren’t even in the ground yet. Farmers are feeling the pressure, and consumers could see the impact on prices later this year.
According to a new report, only 22 percent of the state of Indiana is planted. Normally, this time of year it’s 94 percent.
Northern Hamilton County farmer Nathan Davis says he needs at least 1,800 of his usual 3,000 acres of corn planted in order to feed his thousands of hogs. Due to the exceptionally wet spring, so far he’s only been able to plant 500 of those acres of corn. (Photo provided by WISH-TV)
Nathan Davis is a farmer in northern Hamilton County. He farms about 3,000 acres of corn every year. Right now, only 500 of that is planted. Davis uses that corn to feed the thousands of hogs he raises.
He says it takes about 180,000 bushels of corn to feed all of his hogs. On average, he sells about 18,000 a year. Davis says he needs at least 1,300 acres of corn planted.
This year he’s had to take new measures. He says he’s had to spend nearly $60,000 to buy contract corn for the fall just to feed the hogs. Davis says it’s due to the fact that the weather hasn’t been in their favor this year.
“It just doesn’t affect the crop,” he said. “I mean you have all of your inputs, your equipment costs, you’ve got your seed cost, your land cost and all that kind of stuff, so it’s huge. It affects everything really.”
Davis says the ground has to dry out before they can get the planter back out. He says the impact the weather has had on planting will increase the cost of corn. As of right now, Davis says it’s nearly $4 a bushel.
Some farmers are saying there’s a chance they may not get a crop in the field, or once they do plant, it fails due to the wet ground. Most farmers have some type of crop insurance, but the insurance doesn’t cover everything.