By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

PRINCETON, Ky. — Uneven summer precipitation is causing a mixed bag of results for Kentucky crops this summer. Central and eastern portions of the state have had more than enough rain, and even deadly flash flooding, while western Kentucky has been on the dry side – much to the dismay of area grain producers.

In fact, some counties in western Kentucky are more than six inches below normal.

The dry spell couldn’t have happened at a worse time, said University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture grain specialist Jim Herbek.

“There are some areas that have received more than adequate rain at critical times and others where rain has been way below normal,” he said. “It has been spotty, so we have quite the diverse situation here in the state.

“A large portion of western Kentucky has been suffering for moisture during a critical time when the corn is trying to fill and soybeans are setting pods.”

Herbek added most of the deficit has come in the last 4-6 weeks in an area where the majority of the state’s corn and soybean crops are grown.

“Unless things improve through August, it’s going to really have a dramatic effect,” he said.

“For some of the earlier planted corn, rain would not improve it completely, but for some of the later planted corn, or some that had to be replanted because of all the flooding back during the spring, it would really help because it’s just starting the filling stage.”

Herbek explained, for the soybean crop, precipitation would definitely help now.

While dry weather has been a problem, another concern is high temperatures, which have created pollination problems and the possibility of an early harvest in some areas.

“Basically, it goes back to the heat we are having now that is speeding up growth or ear-fill, which isn’t good. The corn is going through the filling stage a little quicker than normal,” reported Herbek.

While it’s still early to determine just how much of the corn crop yield will be affected, he estimated yields could be off by as much as 10-20 percent in the west, and if the hot temperatures coupled with low moisture continues, the estimate could go beyond that.

Darian Irvan, UK agriculture and natural resources agent for Hickman County in western Kentucky, is in the thick of the hot and dry conditions.

He said the condition of the corn there is a far cry from what growers saw in 2009.

“I’ve seen pollination issues and heat stress issues, and when you put those things together along with the drought, I’m not seeing the corn anywhere near what it was last year,” he said. “The real indicator will be next week, when (farmers) go to the field for harvest.”

He said in talking to growers in his area, many are afraid of just what they are going to find once that harvest starts. What they will find in many fields is a mixture of good and not so good corn, according to Irvan.

“I’ve seen 140-bushel corn in one side of a field and go to the other side and see 50-bushel corn,” he said.

Irvan attributes this to varying conditions such as high and low spots within those fields, causing what moisture they have had to settle in some areas. He also said that had corn been planted under normal conditions at normal times, the coming harvest would be right on time – but spring flooding caused anything but normal conditions.

“We are a river county, so we have many acres in the Mississippi River bottom where it was flooded until the last of May,” he said.

Adding insult to injury, the soybean crop in Hickman County is also taking a beating. Irvan said late beans are being hit the hardest.

“These late beans are really hurting. I don’t know if they will even get over the wheat stubble,” he said.

Ironically, the region to the northwest is getting green pastures, tall corn and bean crops. Irvan said he has seen countless bands of rain come across the bootheel of Missouri to his west, only to turn north once it got to the Mississippi River.

“When you get from Cape Girardeau down to Cairo, Mo., that’s where you can begin to see the decline and, of course, when you cross the river it just keeps getting worse all the way to where I am in Hickman County,” he said.

Irvan predicts corn yields to be off from last year maybe by as much as 40 bushels per acre, but said dealing with Mother Nature is just a part of farming.

“We’ll just keep our fingers crossed and hope we get a pop-up shower every now and then, and hope for something to help the beans,” he explained.