| Corn harvest yet to begin on northern Hoosier farms |
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| By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent
AKRON, Ind. — While some Corn Belt farmers are starting harvest weeks early, fearing stormy weather could damage corn plants already suffering from a dry, hot summer, few in northern Indiana are following suit.
Because of the heavy rains that followed a drought listed as “moderate” by USDA, most fields simply are not ready.
Tom Weaver, a Fulton County farmer with 300 acres of commercial corn, another 300 acres of seed corn and 600 acres of soybeans, says corn still lacks maturity. “The rain came too late,” he said. “The corn is starting to shut down, but it isn’t ready to be harvested.”
At the same time, the delayed rains are keeping soybeans green longer. “It’s been years since we harvested corn before our beans,” Weaver added.
Mark Kepler, Fulton County Purdue University extension educator, said he knows of no farmers trying to jump-start their harvest. “The only ones in the fields – if they can get into them – are the ones filling silos,” he said. “It’s time for that, anyway.”
His Whitley County counterpart, Val Flack, reported no harvesting in her county. Kelly Easterday, Kosciusko County extension educator, said, “I don’t think we have any corn so bad off it would have to be harvested now.”
Across the state line, Phil Guss of Ohio’s National Agricultural Statistics Service field office said an Aug. 26 survey of Ohio’s corn crop showed only two percent was mature enough to harvest.
“The maturity level just isn’t there this year,” he said, adding that a weekly survey had yet to reveal any harvest.
Still, many – including Chris Hurt, an agricultural economist at Purdue – think the long string of hot days has pushed corn growth about a week ahead of the average time.
“If corn plants become too stressed in drought areas, they begin to die and need to be harvested,” Hurt said. “The plant does everything it can and then says, ‘I give up. I can’t go any longer.’”
According to last week’s USDA crop report, only 38 percent of the state’s corn is in good or excellent condition. |
| 9/5/2007 |
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