A Reluctant Spring Forecast

The main ballroom at the Prairie Grains Conference was at capacity for the annual presentation by State Climatologist and NDAWN Director Daryl Ritchison. What’s the outlook for the upcoming growing season? “There are a lot of reasons to believe 2025, like 2024, 2023, 2022 and 2021, will have more dry areas than wet areas,” said Ritchison. The big question mark is with the spring planting season because “we’ve had some horrible springs in the last decade.” While reluctant to provide a spring forecast, Ritchison is leaning towards another late start to planting.