For farmers, watching and waiting is a spring planting ritual. Climate change is adding to anxiety

SABINA, Ohio (AP) — It was just after dark as Ross Woodruff hopped into a truck to haul soybean seeds out to his brother, Mark, whose planter had run out. It was the first day they could plant after heavy rains two weeks earlier left much of their 9,000 acres too muddy to get equipment into the fields.

With drier conditions, Mark had been going hard since mid-afternoon, finishing the beans in one 60-acre field before moving to another.

“This year, with the way the weather’s been, it’s slowed progress,” Ross Woodruff said. “I wouldn’t say we’re behind but a few more rains and we’re going to be.”