Spring Weather Delays

 It is common opinion and an old adage that lots of rain is good for farmers. But there’s another saying that goes something like …too much of a good thing…Well that could possibly apply to the recent weather Idaho has experienced complete with funnel cloud sightings, hail storms, tons of rain and not quite as much sunshine as we normally get. Checking in with Mark Duffin,  Executive Director of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association: “This is behind normal, but it’s not critical, beets planted now have a good long growing season.” Next, a word from Rick Shawver, COO of United Potato: “It has slowed the potato plantings down about a week and a half or so.”

 No big deal we think, but…

 “Anytime you have a late spring that impacts planting you’re taking off days so if a grower cuts down the growing time, they need 120 days to grow, so if you cut it off in the spring, he has to make it up on the tail end so it’s hard to tell if it’s gonna have an impact till we get into the fall weather and if we have a long fall I think we’ll be OK but if we have a short fall, have an early frost then yes definitely it will have an impact on the yields.”