PRST STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID OMAHA, NE PERMIT NO. 36
Volume VI, Issue 9
SEPTEMBER 2012
A rapidly maturing crop Farmers face challenges as they harvest drought-damaged corn by Gordon Wolf Farmers are rapidly harvesting a drought-damaged corn crop that has reached maturity early, aided by warm and dry weather conditions in late August. Reports from Iowa State University Extension field agronomists said producers are seeing a wide range of yields, depending on soil conditions and which fields or in some cases, parts of fields, received timely rains. According to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Iowa Field Office, 50 per-
cent of the corn crop is mature, a stage that is ahead of both last year and the five-year average of 11 percent. The NASS report was issued September 4. The corn condition was reported at 23 percent very poor, 32 percent poor, 32 percent fair, 13 percent good and zero percent excellent. Fifty-one percent of the soybean crop is turning color, according to the NASS report, and seven percent of the plants were dropping leaves, one week
ahead of last year. The soybean condition was reported at 13 percent very poor, 24 percent poor, 40 percent fair, 21 percent good, and two percent excellent. Corn yields are all over the chart, according to information from Iowa State University Extension field agronomists. Extension Field Agronomist Joel DeJong, who serves Sioux, Lyon, Osceola, O'Brien, Cherokee, Ply-
mouth, Woodbury, Ida and Monona counties, has heard of fields that were appraised at or near zero yield and has heard reports of fields that approach 200 in different neighborhoods. “I have also observed yield monitors in the same field and the same round go from the 40s to hitting 260 (for a few yards), so even in the same round there can be a huge variation,” DeJong stated.
Extension Field Agronomist Clarke McGrath, who is the crops team co-lead and spends most of his time in Shelby, Audubon, Crawford, Harrison and East and West Pottawattamie counties, pointed out that without the strong genetics, the variability in yields would have been much less, which would have meant worse yields. “We would have seen yields from 0 to maybe 100 bushels per acre,” he stated.
“Modern genetics have allowed our corn (and as we will hopefully soon see, our beans) to produce grain in conditions that even 10 years ago may have led to barren plants.” The drought, of course, is the reason for the wide swings in yields, McGrath added. DeJong added that water and the water holding capacity of the soil are the main reasons for the variability in yields. “Some soils hold water well, others don't. Some neighborhoods didn't have enough rain and in storage in the soil to supply enough for the crop,” DeJong explained. “And the long-term heat reduced yields, too.” CORN . . . Page 3
Ron Reimers guides his combine through a corn field located just north of Denison on September 4. The land is owned by Ron and his brother, Roger. Representatives from local Pioneer dealer, Boeck Agri-Services, of Schleswig, were on hand to conduct yield checks. Photo by Gordon Wolf