Just 15 Miles Separate ‘Too Dry’ From ‘Perfect’ Planting Conditions in Texas as the 2025 Corn Planting Season Begins

As the 2025 corn planting season gets underway in Texas, corn growers in the state are facing drastically different planting conditions depending on their operation’s location. 

Planting Progress Put on Pause in the Coastal Bend

Colin Chopelas, a corn grower in Mathis, Texas, said he was able to get started planting his corn crop in mid-February, however freezing overnight temperatures towards the end of the month put a pause on planting progress. 

The corn that Chopelas was able to get into the ground managed to emerge prior to the freezing conditions that initially brought planting progress to a halt. Chopelas said that corn “is burnt a bit, but should be fine.”

Now, as February comes to a close, Chopelas said he’s completely stopped his planting progress “until we get some moisture. It’s just too dry.” 

Chopelas said he isn’t the only one that’s stopped planting. “It’s the end of February, and I haven’t seen a planter running anywhere near me.”

Typically, Chopelas said the conditions allow for corn to start getting in the ground before Valentine’s Day in his area, so to see no planters running is “very unusual for this time of year.”

Drought and Low Commodity Prices Cause Concerns 

Planting conditions are overall “pretty marginal,” Chopelas said. Best cast scenario, Chopelas said they get the moisture they need to get this season’s corn crop up. Right now he said “We don’t have a chance of getting this crop up until it rains.”

This has Chopelas concerned because he said low commodity prices mean he needs a bumper crop this year to break even. 

“We haven’t had a decent rainfall since August of last year,” Chopelas said. “We had eight inches of rain back in August, and since then we’ve had maybe an inch at the most.”

Drought conditions in San Patricio County where Chopelas’ operation are between D1 moderate and D2 severe drought conditions, according to the drought monitor map released Feb. 18.

Overall, Chopelas said the dry conditions that are impacting his crops are what make crop insurance so vital to the success of his operation. “It’s what gets us through the rough years.”

Perfect Start to Planting Near the Gulf

While farmers in the Coastal Bend are dealing with dry planting conditions, growers near the Gulf, just 150 miles away, are preparing for a perfect start to the 2025 planting season. 

Daniel Berglund, a corn grower in south central Wharton County, said he’s planning on planting his first corn acres by the end of the week as long as ground conditions dry up a bit.

“We’re just getting started here because it’s been so wet,” Berglund said. 

Wet Mornings Slow Drying Progress for Planting

The weather hasn’t been entirely conducive to drying out the ground so corn can get planted yet, Berglund said. “It’s been a cold, heavy fog in the mornings,” he said. But, he’s optimistic planting conditions are close to what he needs to start rolling in the field.

Similar to Chopelas, Berglund said his corn crop usually starts getting planted by Feb. 14 depending on the weather and ground conditions. However, he said it isn’t unusual to get started by the first week of March.

Texas Farmers Prep Fields

“We strive to have the ground ready by February,” Berglund said, “so when the weather allows, we can plant.”

Berglund isn’t the only grower that spent the last week preparing his fields for planting. According to the USDA Crop Progress report for Texas for the week ending Feb. 23, many row crop producers were performing pre-planting activities. Statewide, 4.2 days were suitable for fieldwork. 

As Berglund prepares to get planting, he said “right now the ground conditions are perfect.” This is because of cold weather, snow and a wet winter that’s helped prep the soil moisture for the coming season, Berglund said. 

Looking at the season as a whole, Berglund said “we’re praying for a better than average crop because markets are lower than average.”