RGGCSA SuperNews Winter 2020

Each crop year starts with the post-harvest recovery of perennial stands as well as tilling the soil and establishing new fields. Crop 2020 had a strong start thanks to good September rains that allowed for strong crop recovery and good sprouting of escaped seed before ground was prepared for new seeding. The new seeding period started out very good with good soil moisture but was halted for several weeks due to rains that came just often enough to keep seed drills out of the fields. Many fields were planted weeks later than is optimal and some were not planted at all. Fall blended into winter almost unnoticeably and winter continued as the mildest in recent memory. Lack of cold weather and flooding meant that herbicides were less effective and pests (slugs, armyworms and voles) overwintered more successfully than we'd like.

Spring arrived in spurts with a few days of very warm nice weather followed by return to cool and wet. This caused maturity gaps in the crops from which many never recovered.

Spring continued with an unusually dry April and May. The on-again/off-again spring weather exhibited itself later with very long pollination periods which resulted in very