Alongside the brats and ice cream served at Rio Creek Feed Mill’s Customer Appreciation Lunch on Wednesday you could easily find the excitement among farmers for the upcoming planting season.

The weather has trended in favor of farmers as of late with a mix of sunshine and rain knocking down the last stubborn piles of snow in area fields. The mild temperatures paired with the mostly dry conditions could also go a long way over the next week into drying them out to pave the way for fieldwork to begin. Rio Creek Feed Mill agronomist Adam Barta was thrilled that he and his family could welcome their customers and hear their optimism for the weeks ahead.

After retiring from dairy operations a few years ago, Door County farmer Ron Clark grows cash crops like corn and wheat on approximately 400 acres. Clark says talking to other farmers and lower costs for things like fuel and fertilizer gave him an extra dose of enthusiasm heading into spring.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Crop Progress and Condition Report, Wisconsin farmers on average got less than a day’s worth of work done in their fields in the last week due to the current field conditions. Farmers in the central (1.9 days) and southwest (2.3 days) districts were the only Wisconsin districts with farmers who got at least one day of fieldwork last week.