Michigan farmers waiting to plant their crops

Steve Carmody — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:59:00 +0000

The weather may seem perfect to a lot us right now.

But not so perfect for farmers, many of whom have yet to plant their spring crops.

Michigan has been enjoying beautiful sunny skies during the month of May, but the state’s farmers are still waiting for their fields to dry out from April’s heavy showers.

Fields are so soggy that only about 5% of Michigan’s corn crop has been planted. Compare that with 2012 when 42% of the crop at this time last year.

“I don’t think we’ve got a lot of nervousness right now,” says Ken Nye, with the Michigan Farm Bureau, “It does mean we’re ….going to compress this thing a little bit…and it does mean that we could be a little bit late before everything gets finishes up depending on the weather from here.”

Nye says by contrast Michigan’s fruit crops are doing well this year. Especially compared with 2012. More than 90% of Michigan’s tart cherry crop was lost after unusually warm weather in February led the trees to bloom early and more than a dozen freezes between March and May killed it.

Preparing for the worst

Steve Carmody — Wed, 18 May 2011 19:00:07 +0000

State health officials are putting a 140 bed emergency field hospital to the test today just south of Lansing. They're preparing for the kind of medical needs that may follow a catastrophic natural or man-made disaster.

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