Rain stunts early planting progress in North Iowa

A half-inch of rain quickly ushered a north-central Iowa farmer back to the sideline after beginning planting Wednesday.

Andy Coombs farms with his father near Rowan and Dows and says this spring has been cool and wet with soil temps yet to reach 50 degrees consistently.

“We decided to take a gamble and put a little (seed) In the ground, kind of the mentality of having to start sometime (and) hope for warmer weather.”

He tells Brownfield they’re a little behind schedule.