Drought May Cut Indiana Corn Yields in Half

Jay County corn

Most of Indiana remains very dry, but some parts of the state did see rain this week. Scattered showers moved across parts of northwestern and north central Indiana; but, for the most part, they did not provide much relief. The latest Crop Moisture Index classifies the north central, northeast, and central sections of Indiana as abnormally dry.  Brian Early, Pioneer agronomist based in Peru, Indiana, said that, despite the lack of rain and 90 degree heat, the corn is  doing surprisingly well, “It rolls up about 10am every morning and unrolls about 10pm every night.” He told HAT, as long as the corn is still unrolling in the evening, it is a good sign. But he says with each passing day of drought the situation gets worse, “If we don’t see some rain soon, things will start to move backwards very quickly.”

 

Early said, if rain does not come in the next two weeks, yields could be reduced by upwards of 50%, “In two weeks, we are going to get into the reproductive phase and then the losses mount up very quickly.” He added, if the corn begins to tassel and the rains do not come, “we could see  yield losses of up to 50%.”  He said there is not a lot growers can do except reduce stress on the crop and keep weed pressure to a minimum.

 

As for soybeans, they can handle the dry conditions and, for the most part, fields are looking good, “At this stage, the plants do not require a lot of moisture.” He said most fields look to have good stands and the condition looks good. Nevertheless, the condition rating on the Indiana soybean crop continued to decline in the latest USDA report.  They reported 32 percent good to excellent compared with 56 percent last year at this time.

 

Hoosier Ag Today meteorologist Rob Wasson reports that, “The extended two week forecast calls for seasonal temperatures and rainfall statewide.” Listen to the complete report with Brian Early from Pioneer and get a variety of agronomic information on the Pioneer agronomy page.

 

[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/06/earlyreport.mp3|titles=Drought May Cut Indiana Corn Yields in Half ]

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