Editors' Notebook

The Good, The Bad, The Drowned

Cheri Zagurski
By  Cheri Zagurski , DTN Associate Editor
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Thanks to Mark Nowak from south-central Minnesota for sharing this photo of his very good-looking corn field. (Photo by Mark Nowak)

Sharing photos gleaned from Twitter, Facebook and emails from readers, the discussion in the office Monday was of swamped crops and flooded fields. Some of the pictures were enough to send a shiver down one's spine ... if one was the type to feel the sorrow of submerged plants, yellowed vegetation, and just plain ol' crop losses.

One wag in the office remarked that nobody posts or emails pictures of the perfectly fine fields that must also exist in some areas this growing season. Well, yes, that's true. But it's the old story of what constitutes news. "Dog Bites Man" is not necessarily as interesting as "Man Bites Dog." "Crops Keep Growing" isn't as heart tugging as "Crops Under Two Feet of Water."

Humans are born ambulance chasers. And we can hear the sirens from inundated areas of the Corn Belt.

In Hardin County, Ohio, Dan Hiller farms east of Ada, and he has no good news to report. "Things look like a swamp and duck pond," he wrote in an email Monday. "There is still standing water from the rains two weeks ago here. Northwest of Dola there were sections under water for a week. At least a 50% crop kill in those sections and the rest is damaged. On the higher ground all low spots in fields have been lost. I personally have lost 10% of my planted acres and have damage to another 40%; nitrogen is lost that was applied.

"What looked like a 200 bpa crop is now looking like a 100 bpa average for planted acres. The wheat is turning and the heads are straight up, which indicates the heads are not well filled and more at risk of sprouting.

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"The weather has been ideal for molds and toxins in the wheat. For beans the question will be how bad the molds and fungi will be killing or further stunting the remaining plants. Looks to be a well-below-normal crop this year."

There are parts of Illinois facing the same wet conditions that Dan is. John Moore of Manhattan reported, "Same ol', same ol'. Another week of too much rain, not enough field work. Virtually nothing done here for two weeks now. Five to 10 miles from me some neighbors tried to sidedress N or spray fields, but no one left their fields without five in tracks and/or mud on the tires. Corn is turning yellow to brown in mid- to later-planted fields and not just in the pond holes where water has been standing for weeks now. Beans are trying to hold their own; however, the normal growth we should be seeing is not there. Most hay fields in our area have yet to be cut first time, and quality is waning fast as grass is well past prime and alfalfa is so tall and lanky that is has fallen over and over and smothered out the underneath areas to where there isn't much left but stems.

"You know things are getting bad when the local Farm Bureau paper 'The Weekly Review' devotes two full pages to the lead article entitled 'How do we stop farmer suicides?' (In almost 30 years of receiving that publication I've never seen two written pages devoted to any article.)"

That is a sobering thought.

There are water problems in the northeast U.S. too. Crawford McFetridge from the Finger Lakes area of New York wrote DTN, "All I can say is we got 2 inches of rain and everyone had a slow Monday. There is standing and setting gravitational water all over. We are on track for the third wettest June on record. Fun in the Finger Lakes! Crops that started to look like they might start growing are already looking bad again. We usually have corn waist high to tassel about now. Not this year. Seen an acre of sweet corn in tassel, but that was it. But, on the other side of it, before this weekend's rain there were fields of corn starting to curl. They were out of water. Go figure."

We heard from Will Nicholson of Cherry Valley, Arkansas, on Monday also. "It's replant Monday here," he wrote. "I've seen several drills running and I'm on mine. The weekend rain was spotty; some are starting irrigation on bigger beans. We're watering corn like crazy too."

And in North Dakota, David Kjelstrup wrote, "Corn is knee high; we are plenty wet. Harvest will come soon enough."

The news wasn't all bad. Mark Nowak in south-central Minnesota reported, "We continue our trend of near-perfect growing conditions. Rain over the weekend was an early morning shower Sunday and an early evening system totaling 0.63 inch. That brings total to 4.85 inches for June, which is 0.4 inch above normal. No ponding or water stress of any kind. GDUs are 863 through the 28th which is 2-3 days ahead of normal. Corn is shoulder to head high with excellent color. Beans are mostly or approaching knee high and blossoming has started. The only question is how long we can sustain these great crop growing conditions? Expect tasseling to start in two weeks and of course that critical reproduction phase will determine the crop potential."

Phil Carter, of New Era Michigan, wrote DTN, "Contrary to most other areas, we had a great week with no rain and sunny skies. We are hand thinning Gala apples for too many in a cluster and taking off those fruits with frost ring-scars. The guys should finish by the weekend. Apples inland are sizing nicely, are scab free and insect pressure is light overall with the exception of a couple blocks with obliquebanded leafrollers. At the lakeshore (Lake Michigan) the fruit crops are somewhat lighter, mainly due to poor pollination conditions during blossom time. With all the moisture we have had, the sod centers are really growing and it's hard to keep up mowing them. Our apple estimate for Michigan is 22.5 million bushels, down from last year by several million bushels and seems to be a manageable crop. Our west-central tart cherry estimate is 33 million pounds, which is also down from last year. Tart harvest should start after the fourth of July and is usually hell season, hoping for no high winds, heavy rainstorm or other weather unfriendly events. My thoughts are with those fellow growers experiencing wet conditions. Enjoy your long weekend, mine will be long also, working, mowing sidedressing corn, and another apple spray. But it's what we do."


If you would like to be involved in sharing crop conditions from your area, send me a note at cheri.zagurski@dtn.com

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