Editors' Notebook

Planting is on my mind.

One reason, of course, is annually March 31 -- today's date -- marks the release of USDA's Planting Intentions report. The 2015 version, as you probably all know by now, shows guesstimates of 84.64 million acres planted to soybeans and 89.2 million acres planted to corn.

At this writing, 1 p.m. CDT, corn futures seem to be selling the fact -- contracts 16 to 18 cents lower. I'm not sure what soybean futures are doing. Contracts are modestly higher -- 3 to 4 cents. Good thing I'm not an analyst.

Here I'd like to remind everybody that planting intentions don't translate one-for-one to harvested acres. We all know there's a lot of planting and growing season weather ahead of us.

Still, in some areas, planting has begun. Weekly USDA Crop Progress reports don't start until Monday April 6. But individual states have been reporting for a while. For most of the Corn Belt, the simultaneously exhausting and exhilarating weeks of planting still lie ahead. But down south it's upon them. Texas reported Monday 20% of its corn is planted vs. a 5-year average of 43%; Arkansas corn is 2% planted vs. a 5-year average of 28%; Louisiana corn is 16% planted vs. a 5-year average of 81%.

In other words, where they should be planting corn now, they are quite far behind. DTN reader Jeff Littrell who farms in eastern Minnesota sent me the following email:

"Friend of mine from the valley, Mercedes, Texas, called over the weekend and stated he's going to prevent plant close 800 to 900 acres. His comment: From Mercedes to Beaumont, Texas, there will be a lot of acres that aren't going to be planted. Cotton, corn, and sorghum are all under the gun this year with three to four weeks of rain so far."

Which brings me to another thought about planting -- the final planting date under crop insurance. I expected a quick and easy Google search to discover a handy chart to share with you on these dates. I was wrong.

Final planting date depends on a variety of factors. Crop planted, of course, and state planted in and maybe even which county of which state. Here I have tried to gather together some links where you can search for the final planting date for your crop in your state. Once you get to the websites, you'll have to do a little deducing to get to the right area to discover the dates. Some of these are straight forward -- click on 2015 Final Planting Dates. For some you'll have to choose a crop first, or maybe a state and possibly a county after that.

Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

Ohio

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

Eastern states including New York

http://www.rma.usda.gov/…

Happy hunting! If you end up finding a better place to get this info, organized in a better fashion, please let me know! Email me at cheri.zagurski@dtn.com or call me at 1-800-485-4000, ext. 6402.

Thanks for your help!

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