January 2013 | Section A
PHOto by sevil mahfoozi
George Corya grows soybeans on his farm in Commiskey.
The drought of 2012 was bad, but for most farmers, it won’t steer them off-course By Barney Quick
It was the kind of year that tests a farmer’s resilience. The drought began in February and reached its peak on Aug. 7. Approximately 63 percent of the continental United States was in some stage of drought as of early December. The relentless heat wave of 2012 devastated crop yields, particularly corn. George Corya, a Jennings County farmer, said his 2012 corn crop was “one of the worst we’ve ever raised.” Father and son farmers Norman and Steve Duke of Bargersville concur. Steve expects corn availability to become an issue in the new year. As does Evan Clouse of Hope. “In my 28 years of farming I’ve never seen anything like it,” Clouse said. “I’ve talked to farmers who have been at it 60 years, and they say the same thing.” The state’s best 2012 corn yields could be found in the northwest district and the worst in the southwest. South-central Indiana fell in between, and there was variation within the area, given factors such as elevation and soil composition, as well as the tendency of any rain to appear as short-lived, isolated cells. “Surprisingly, all our crops turned out really good,” said Albert Armand of Westport. “We did have a 20-acre farm that probably only got 25 to 50 bushels per acre. It sits on rolling ground. I think overall, for the year, we will be slightly under average, but we had areas that were above what we’d normally expect.” Armand’s relative good fortune, he says, is because of his land: “We happen to be sitting on some ground that holds moisture well. We also had a couple of timely rains that got us over the hump.” Armand’s operation is also diversified. It includes corn, soybeans, wheat, 10 acres of pumpkins, four acres each of sweet corn and mixed vegetables, as well as hogs and cattle. Armand had his cattle on pasture most of the year, although he did supplement it with “a little hay,” he says. Corya says he fed silage to his cattle from the second week in June until the second week in September. “We’re back to pasturing our cattle,” he added. Steve Duke says that late rains enabled his pastures to come back from drought damage. “In late July, they were just about smoked,” he said. “We were about to start using hay. If the rain hadn’t come, we would have seen long-term effects.” Because the weather normalized somewhat in August, soybeans seemed to have fared better. Corya says his yield was “better than we expected.” Duke says that his bean yield “was still reduced. Beans planted in May had close to a normal yield. Varieties planted in early April took it the worst.” Clearly, crop insurance is playing a bigger role in the farming business than usual as the figures for 2012 are tabulated. Some area operations will rely on it more than others, and there are two main types — crop revenue coverage (CRC) and group risk income protection (GRIP) — each of which has particular implication for a farm’s finances.
PHOto by angela jackson
Will Armand, 12, cuts zucchini at his family's farm in Westport.
6672 East 650 South | Edinburgh, IN 46124 | 812-526-5574 | 800-284-2676 | kokomograin.com
See 2012 recaP on A2