Purdue News
Purdue News
According to Purdue University agronomists, fields in the northern third of Indiana generally are in the best shape, while some central and southern areas are hurting quite a bit.
"In the southern third of the state, most of the corn crop would be rated poor or very poor," said Purdue Cooperative Extension corn specialist Don Griffith. "The crops doing the worst are those in sandy soils or in areas where the topsoil is shallow in west-central and southwestern Indiana."
Griffith said farmers need to assess their fields immediately so they can begin to consider other uses for corn fields that won't yield enough grain to be profitable.
"If they determine they may have less than 50 bushels per acre, they can choose whether to harvest it for grain or use it for forage, either as silage or what we call green chop, if they or their neighbors have livestock."
Griffith cautions farmers against making that decision too soon, however. He suggests farmers assess fields now, and if silage is the choice, wait till the forage is at about 65-percent moisture.
When decision time does arrive, Griffith said, those who want to use their corn as green-chop feed may want to do their own nitrate tests on the plants, because too much nitrate can make livestock sick. Nitrate test kits are available by contacting county Extension offices.
Farmers who want to use their corn as a forage also need to check for forage limitations on the labels of herbicides they applied.
Griffith said recent scattered rains cannot be considered curative: "Areas that received a half an inch of rain will be back in a stressful situation within two days without more rain."
The prognosis for soybeans is generally a bit brighter than that for corn. Stephen Hawkins, assistant director of Purdue's research farms, said that overall, yields may be all right.
"I'm fairly optimistic on beans in the northern two-thirds of the state where we've gotten good plant growth and they're flowering and setting pods," he said. "What we need is about 3 inches over the next three to four weeks.
"If I were controlling an irrigation pump, I'd pour on an inch this week, an inch next week and an inch the week after that."
Hawkins said that in southern sections of Indiana, where many farmers planted late into wet fields, a significant number of soybean fields are already stressed by compaction and have started to wilt. He's the least optimistic about those fields: "If they don't get rain in 24 to 48 hours, they may abort their pods."
In Ohio, rain is needed most in the extreme northeast counties as well as a 70-mile-wide swath across the northern part of the state, said Ohio State agronomist Jim Beuerlein.
Of these, the hardest hit is the northeast, including all of Lake, Ashtabula, Geauga, Portage, Trumbull and Mahoning counties, and parts of adjacent counties, Beuerlein said. Those counties connect to an east-west swath that runs slightly southwesterly to the Indiana border at Mercer County and parts of Van Wert and Darke counties, Beuerlein said. The area includes the cities of Wooster, Marion and Lima.
"Our crops are wilting most days in these areas and are not growing," Beuerlein said.
He said he expects crop yields to be average or less in the driest areas, while the rest of the state can expect average or better yields.
"Corn is going to take a serious hit in these dry areas," Beuerlein said. "Beans will survive the drought better than corn, because beans have a longer reproductive period."
Despite the dry conditions, both states are projected to increase corn and soybean production significantly over last year's rain-plagued growing season. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates released Tuesday (8/12), predict a 127-bushel-per-acre corn yield in Indiana, a 4-bushel-per-acre increase over the 1996 yield. Production is expected to increase almost 11 percent, from 670 million bushels in 1996 to 742.9 million bushels this year.
The USDA projects a 19-bushel-per-acre yield increase to 130 bushels per acre in Ohio, up from the 1996 yield of 111. Corn production is expected to increase by 47 percent to 448.5 million bushels, from 305.3 million bushels in 1996.
As for soybeans, Indiana's yield is expected to be 44 bushels per acre, up by 6-bushels-per-acre over last season, the USDA estimates. Production is expected to be 235.4 million bushels, a 15.6 percent increase over last year's 203.7 million.
Ohio's soybean yield is estimated at 42 bushels per acre, a 7-bushel-per-acre increase over last year. Production is projected at 188.6 million bushels, 20 percent higher.
Sources: Don Griffith, (765) 494-4798; e-mail: Donald_Griffith@acn.purdue.edu
Stephen Hawkins, (765) 494-8370; e-mail: stephen.e.hawkins.1@purdue.edu
Jim Beuerlein, (614) 292-9080; e-mail: Beuerlein.1@osu.edu
Writer: Amy H. Raley, (765) 494-6682; e-mail: ahr@aes.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
