A central Kentucky farmer said he’s cautiously optimistic about this year’s growing season. Todd Clark has cattle and hay on 13 properties totaling more than 13-hundred acres. He’s a first-generation farmer who got started in Burley tobacco over 30 years ago and produces grass-finished beef for a leading grocery chain with his oldest son. He does have some worries, though.
“I'm a little concerned about the moisture or lack of moisture. We've had enough – certainly we don't need flooding, but we haven't had the sorts of rains that would recharge the groundwater from the past couple of dry years.”
Clark said the mild winter helped keep his cattle from tromping around in the mud often, but it poses another problem.
“Typically, you need some pretty cold weather through the winter to keep your insect pressure in check, that concerns me a little bit.”
Clark said on the plus side, the winter seemed to end a couple of weeks early, allowing farmers to get in the fields and prepare them for planting. Overall, Clark, who’s also board chair of Louisville-based Farm Credit Mid-America, said he’s cautiously optimistic about this year’s production.
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