Don’t know if I’ve seen corn grow so fast, last few days have been in the mid to upper 80s. In beef production we talk about “compensatory gain”, don’t know if plants can do that but the corn has doubled in size the last week.
I would say we are maybe two weeks behind after planting three weeks later than normal. The beans just don’t have the size to take advantage of this weather.
Some corn was rolling the other day but we got a general inch of rain and hopefully the roots have been able to get through the compaction we had this spring.
I’m hearing more and more rumblings about western and central Iowa getting better looking, we may end up with a decent crop. I wouldn’t bet very much on a national failure. The rest of the year will tell the tale.
Also heard rumblings of 0-92 being revisited. That was the biggest fiasco I ever saw. It made crooks out of honest folks trying to chase a dollar. But, chasing the dollar when the government dangles it in front of you is the fuel capitalism runs on.
HI mcfarmer
We finished planting the last of our custom beans last week on a very wet farm. Hard to believe but that 250 acre farm has rows so long, that one round with our 12 row corn planter plants 12 acres/ round. We can hold 15,000 lbs plus of starter fertilizer in the bulk cart and plant approx. 50-55 acres/ fill [using dry fert in 2x2 band] before stopping for seed and fert.
Our corn varies from rows filled in to ankle high
I must say we did a major change in machinery, fertility etc even going to VRT on the planter for population and amount of fert in the 2x2 side band at planting and also side dress N
When spending huge amounts on a 2 yr machinery change we went with technology vs hired help as much as possible. It also helped to have some reserve cash available, so we are not subject to the never, never repayment plans offered
The crop soaked in the heat, this past week, with some showing heat stress, but we have abundant soil moisture, and the crop seemed to respond, very well, to the changes we made. We don't have the weaker spots that normally show up at this time of plant growth. We were a bit worried about ROI but this yr seems to be okay.
Just don't have the root structure to take advantage of soil moisture
Hot nights are the norm now
We missed the recent rain but hope springs eternal
It will still be a race to finish our crop before frost, as some will not be knee high by July 4, our measurement stick for crop growth
I will summer fallow the tiled ground as it needs some big time work to level. I will even need the back hoe to push dirt around to fill in holes left from where the plow machine was dug in. Huge balls of clay turned to cement that need rain to soften them a bit
Can not say the rest of Ontario looks very good from what we have seen
We are in the garden spot of Ontario this yr, and our crop is 3-4 weeks behind. Imagine what the rest of Ontario looks like
Most of Ontario was still barren with either unplanted or soy beans not emerged, during our tour last week to return some sweet corn seed
Ontario will have very little corn with most acres either not planted or growing beans
Even the planted corn acres look sick, even on very good ground. Very good soil, with not so good a corn crop as per usual.
Some corn acres are showing compaction problems from the sins of planting in wet soils in the spring
This week will finish our spring work and then we turn to the sweet corn in a couple weeks which will last until labour day or beyond. And of course we truck at least 50,000 bu or more every month until end of Sept., so we keep busy.
The sweet corn, looks very good, with tassels started last week on 1st plant
Hope we make a crop but a lot can happen this summer
Yes IA, Neb and other places have an excellent crop of corn
However, in the problem areas, once a corn plant is stunted, it never reaches full potential. However a potential 250 bu crop that yields 200 bu is still a very big crop
Thanks farmer dudes!
The northwest 40% of the Cornbelt can still have near record yields with perfect weather. One item that everybody continues to ignore is the massive contributions of the increase in CO2 that add up to a bit more each year, especially to soybean yields because they use the C3 pathway to photosynthesis vs C4 for corn.
However, late planting means losing a lot of days that featured the highest angled, most powerful sun in May that will be replaced on the back end of maturity by lower angled, weaker August sunshine(it's more than just heat/growing units) .
The amount of daily sunshine can offset this if it's, let's say 10% above average while still featuring timely rains.
Also, the Eastern belt was SO late and there were so many acres not planted to corn that no matter how high the yields elsewhere, they will be a huge drop in crop size.
The USDA did not change planted acres for the state of Indiana on Friday. Everybody on the planet with access to information on this topic, knows that Indiana did not plant nearly as much corn as intended in March. Seems like it must be at least 1 million acres less?
The market obviously dialed in much of this earlier this month and maybe too much based on weather markets almost always over reacting.
The highs are in short term, unless the weather turns extreme but instead, the weather has looked almost perfect for the last week and today outlook is similar for the next 2 weeks.
This market is going to be hard to trade now though because we cant be sure about what the market thinks the REAL acreage is. We know that it will never believe the USDA number but that causes the trade to dial in a higher number and higher production.