With prices high and fields wet, North Dakota farmer uses two-tractor solution to plant wheat

REYNOLDS, N.D. — Larry Linneman has used a second tractor to pull a tractor pulling an air seeder in the past, but it’s usually to tow someone through a tough spot.

“We’ve done it a little before on side hills,” Linneman said. “But we had to do it on 500 acres this year to get it seeded.”

Some of the neighbors watched in amazement and one seed sales professional took some video.

Linneman, 46, and four hired men farm about 8,400 acres. Of that, about 2,500 acres are of dry edible beans, 2,000 are of wheat, 1,400 are of corn, 1,300 are of sugarbeets, and 1,200 are of soybeans.

The Linneman crew employed the dual tractors on three wheat parcels, finishing June 6, 2022, about three weeks later than desirable.

“It was time to get the crop in,” he said.

The pressure to plant wheat was — in spite of soil conditions — because the co-op had fertilized for wheat last October, at strong prices. Linneman also wanted to stay with the three-year sugarbeet rotation.

“It’s best to put beets on (last year’s) wheat ground,” he said. The move is primarily to break disease cycles.

The ground was an inch of dry soil on the top and “mush underneath, “ he said. “We had to put two tractors on,” Linneman said.

The Linneman crew had tried seeding wheat a week or two prior to their ultimate finish, but to no avail. The soil then had “grayed-off” — a characteristic gray crust — usually indicating it was fit for seeding.

“Then we got two inches of rain and we got it ‘grayed-off’ again,” he said. "But every drain or low area the seeder would sink in a foot or more, and the cart behind the air drill would sink even deeper.”

The drive-by video showed Linneman’s John Deere 8245 and a John Deere 8360 front-wheel assist.

“I don’t know anybody else tried it,” he said, noting that some farmers chose to “PP," or use the prevented planting provision in their crop insurance.

“I have never planted this much wheat, this late,” Linneman said. Fertilizer prices were $500 a ton last July, and went up to $1,000, and now had come down about $650 to 700.

“You’ve got the expense in the ground,” Linneman said. “You want to use it up because the nitrogen will ‘leach’ away. You gotta use it up or lose it.”

Linneman thinks the schedule for spraying crops is bound to be “jumbled up” or at least compressed.

“You’re going to take the same amount of work and now we’re going to have one month less time to do it all — shorter growing season and different stages of planting. You’ve got some wheat that’s out of the ground and two weeks some of it needs to be sprayed, and some of it just got seeded," he said.

Linneman has “replanted” as late as June 23, in past years, after hailstorms, for example “But this will be the latest to put the majority of the crop in in June,” he said.

“Usually the wheat don’t like the heat,” he said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how it turns out.”

Linneman is optimistic the soybeans still can mature before the normal fall frost dates.

The farm started this year’s planting with wheat and sugarbeets but took a break in wheat seeding on May 7. They planted beets through late May. Last year’s edible bean ground was wet and tough to get through. Linneman liked how the sugarbeet stand looked on June 10, fed by a series of small rains.

Corn went into the ground somewhat late — right up to the insurance planting deadline, on May 25 or 26, depending on the location. Linneman said this could portend a late harvest. Hard to say.

Linneman finished edible beans on June 9, 2022 — pintos, navy beans and pinks. Strong prices encouraged him and others. Soy planting ended June 10, 2022, with the last of the rock-rolling coming as rain started. It was a relief, he acknowledged.

“Everyone wants to get the crop in,” he said. “Get it done with and move on.”