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Takin’ it out to the field

By Staff | Apr 24, 2009

DRY DAYS AND moderate temperatures have the region’s farmers hitting the fields in earnest this week. Some field work started last week with those producers working to get seed bed preparations done, some of which were put on hold last fall due to early rains, followed by freezing weather. On the left is John Mersch, from north of Fort Dodge, as he plants corn Tuesday morning two miles east of Clare. He and his son, Gary, will be planting 3,000 acres this spring, he said, with about 60 percent of the acres in corn. Tuesday was “either the fifth or sixth day we’ve been planting,” Mersch said. At the time, they had about 900 acres completed. Just a mile to the west, Randy Licht, of Clare, was applying a pre-emergence herbicide on a 59-acre parcel. He and his brother, Morris, are planting 500 acres of corn and 500 acres in soybeans this spring. “I have to keep going,” Licht said, “or else my brother will roll over me.” Warmer temperatures were expected up through today. Cooler days, without rain, are expected for next week, (See page 2B)