Blog

Aug 31, 2020

Key Issues: Production

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

  “Corn is maturing more quickly than we thought it would. For the first week of September, we are pretty far along for northern Iowa. North of me, they started harvesting seed stock. My neighbor hand-shelled some corn at 35 percent.”   – April Hemmes, Iowa farmer   “The corn has fired, but the ears haven’t flipped down yet. We chopped silage last week. Harvest is still about 10 to 14 days out, so it is a waiting game.”   – Addie Yoder, Missouri farmer

Aug 24, 2020

Key Issues: Production

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

“Our crops are looking good. The corn is denting. Dry areas are starting to show up now though. A shot of rain now would help finish the crop off.” – Bryan Biegler, Minnesota farmer  

Aug 17, 2020

Key Issues: Production

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

“Our corn is in surprisingly good condition. Right now, I would say that most are good, and some would be considered excellent. Even some of our less productive ground will do fairly well this year.  The fields we planted first are close to black layer while the corn planted later in the spring is in the late milk stage of development.”   – Lowell Neitzel, Kansas farmer “Our corn crop is looking better since we got rain on Friday. Different fields vary, but all got from one-half to three inches of precipitation. In general, the amount of moisture we have now should get us through finishing.  The fields we planted earlier are in good condition but may yield less due to a dry early July. Right now, the cooler temperatures and morning dew are helping quite a bit.”   – Patty Mann, Ohio farmer

Aug 10, 2020

Key Issues: Production

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

  “Good, timely rains over the last few weeks have given us a bit of a break from irrigating. Most of my corn crop is in the late milk and dough stages. Generally, it is filling out well minus a few fields with hail or wind damage. Today, it is in the 80s with full sun. If we can have more days like this, it is going to help us out a lot.” – Andy Jobman, Nebraska farmer     “In our area, we have a good corn crop and a mediocre bean crop coming. Our soil moisture profile has been saturated for quite some time. Last week, we had four days with measurable precipitation. Thirty miles away, they could use a shot of rain on some lighter ground. In our fields, we have enough moisture to finish the year without any rain from here on out and more could have an adverse effect on our crop.” – Randy Melvin, North Dakota farmer     “This week, we had about a tenth of an inch of rain by the house with some spots on the farm getting as much as half an inch. The ground still has...

Aug 3, 2020

Key Issues: Production

Author: Cathryn Wojcicki

  “Looking at the same field I have all season before reporting, the corn is tasseled out, has brown silk and the ears filled out nicely. That said, I do have cracks in the ground as there hasn’t been a significant rain here in the month of July. I now have gravel pockets that are starting to yellow, but it is nothing like my friends to the west. They are in a drought so significant it isn’t clear if a rain now would make a great difference in the crop.” – April Hemmes, Iowa farmer     “With our corn, everything looks good here. The kernels are well developed but a long way from dent. Right now, the crop condition is probably good to excellent. We have been lucky to have weather that was really about perfect for this green phase with warmer days and cooler nights.” – Addie Yoder, Missouri farmer