Spring planting is finally underway in Northeast Mississippi

After delays caused by uncommonly heavy rains, row crop farmers in Northeast Mississippi have started spring planting.

Many fields have been too muddy to plant. Sunshine and breezes this week have made some Northeast Mississippi fields dry enough for modern equipment to put seed in the ground.

John Walker Young started planting Thursday on land his family farms in the Tallahatchie River bottom. He was using a modern planter capable of planting up to 400 acres a day in fields with minimum obstructions. The planting machine is 40 feet wide and can, depending on the crop being planted and the row width, plant up to 32 rows of seed on each pass over the field.

The Youngs rotate crops on their land annually, alternating between cotton, soybeans and corn. Young said he intended to plant several hundred acres of each crop this spring.

The planting is precisely guided by Global Positioning System (GPS) earth satellites. Row widths can be controlled within a tolerance of one inch. The equipment also meters the amount of seed dropped and keeps track of where seed has already been planted to avoid over planting.

A few days ago Dr. Bill Burdine, a Mississippi State University extension specialist told NEMISS.NEWS, “Farmers are getting into the planting season right now. We’re planting where it’s not too wet.”

Cotton planting is under way in Union County.

Burdine said the virus epidemic has had minimal impact on agriculture, which has been deemed essential by the federal government. “We’re not being shut down. A few people are being laid off, but it is limited,” he said. Agriculture businesses and workers have the authority to remain open, operate and perform work as necessary to provide their essential services.

Northeast Mississippi does not have a lot of big row crop operations, but there are several that are far from small, according to Burdine.“One thousand acres in Northeast Mississippi is a pretty good operation,” he said.

And size is relative. A thousand acres of soybeans is easier than a thousand acres of cotton, he said, based on the pickers used and equipment needed. Corn, soybeans and cotton are tending to be the most common crops locally grown, he said.

Cotton, which nearly vanished after a century as king of southern agriculture, is making a comeback. “The price has come up,” he said. “It’s still not at the level it needs to be, but there is a little bit of profit.”

Adding to the difficulty in switching back to cotton is a lack of some resources.“Ten to 12 years ago, when cotton bottomed out, we lost most of our gins,” Burdine said. “Now they are farther away, and transportation reduces profit.”

Beside the lack of gins, equipment is scarce and expensive. “You’ll pay $400,000 for a cotton picker, with modules,” he said.  “Some are still using them, but others are using modern bale pickers, like hay bales.”

Burdine is optimistic about the future of farming despite the low profitability for many.

“We have a new generation coming in interested in agriculture, a comeback is going on,” he said. “There are those who are just not interested in an 8 to 5 job. We just don’t want them to get too big too fast, because some do not have the assets they will need.”

“Agriculture is going to be in a better position than most manufacturing,” he said. “You can live without buying a car for a year, but you cannot live without food for a year.”