BELLE PLAINE, Minn. – Parts of rural Minnesota are receiving over a foot more rain than last year, which has created a different kind of headache for farmers.
“Way too much of a good thing is just that: way too much of a good thing,” says Owen Gohlke of Goldkey Farms.
Three years drought and due to the dry conditions, Gohlke prayed for timely rain. It’s now safe to say he got more than he bargained for.
“We’re obviously struggling. We had difficulty getting planted. We’re now struggling to keep the crop alive,” Gohlke said.
That’s because many of his fields in Sibley County have been turned into lakes.
30 hectares have already been lost on one of the 65 hectare fields. It’s a high number, especially considering that more rain on the way.
If it does eventually dry out, Gohlke worries about weeds. As soon as he planted a field near his homestead, it rained and he could not sow herbicide.
“It was just very stressful to watch him get stressed about the responsibility of putting the 119th crop in this field,” said Tracy Gohlke, Owen Gohlke’s wife.
Tracy Gohlke helps run Goldkey Farms with her husband. She knows there is plenty of time to recover, and even though they can’t control Mother Nature, they are now praying for a summer with average weather, and no extremes.
“I hope we can get a crop out of this that surprises us in a positive way,” said Tracy Gohlke.
“One of my pitches for the 10-year average is 14 inches. And the season total right now is 23 inches,” said Owen Gohlke. “It’s way too much, more than the soil can handle.”
Owen Gohlke said nitrogen helps crops photosynthesize, but rain has washed away much of that nitrogen. That’s why so many corn stalks have a light green color instead of dark green.
