Welcome, Klingj8, you have come to a good place for information. There are numerous members more insightful than I and I am sure they will help soon enough.
I am a big believer in cycling a pond before adding the desired fish populations. Adding minnows as a forage base first, jump starts the pond cycle and allows them to begin reproduction before the predator fish are added. FHM are little more than living fish food but they help cut the mosquito population while around in good numbers.
This 1-3 month delay also affords you time to identify any water quality issues. To be honest, since your pond is surrounded by crop land, nutrient pollution could become an issue? Allowing your shorelines time to develop may mitigate the issue to an extent.
I would think it helpful to add the minnows now and start testing the water for insight prior to adding more desirable fish this fall or next spring.
