By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

FRANKFORT, Ky. — The dry weather has taken its toll on state crops and conditions have not gotten better as harvesting continues. The corn crop took the brunt of the blow early, as yield estimates dropped by as much as 40 percent in some areas.

Now, with the soybean harvest in full swing, the outlook isn’t much better. Early reports from western Kentucky show some early yields will be less than half of the records seen in 2009.

But the situation is sporadic, as some averages are ranging from 8-60 bushels in the same county, according to information released from the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture.

Drought conditions have remained severe in extreme western portions of Kentucky and a few northern portions of the state. The “severe” status also holds true for much of southern Indiana.
The latest crop and weather report from the Kentucky office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported some areas in western Kentucky and southern Indiana were as much as 8-9 inches below normal precipitation since April 1.

The NASS report noted the two states’ estimates for corn and soybeans will be off 17 and 25 (12 bushels) percent, respectively, from 2009 levels.

While grain producers face decreased yields, tobacco producers are watching poor curing conditions damage their crop.

Tommy Yankey, UK extension agent for agriculture and natural resources in Anderson County, thinks things may be worse than the drought conditions two years ago.

“I think we are dry, if not drier, than the drought of 2007-2008,” he said. “There is a lot of yellow in this crop, a lot of off-color, and tobacco companies have verbally told farmers if it is yellow, they don’t want it.”

Most tobacco producers are at the mercy of contracts with tobacco manufacturers and many had theirs reduced or eliminated at the beginning of the year, with quality being an issue for many.
In an interview from earlier this year, David Sutton, a spokesman for Phillip Morris, USA and U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co. said the company decisions about contracts were based on demand as well as the quality of the leaf growers were producing.

“We started looking at what we call the grower’s scorecard, which is what the company and its growers work from on an annual basis,” said Sutton.

“We looked at the performance of growers not only in Kentucky but across the growing region, and we looked at the fact that the company is no longer going to buy fourth- and fifth-quality tobacco.
“So, if individual growers were delivering low-tier quality, those are the type of folks who would likely be impacted with either cuts in their contract or, indeed, not being offered a contract at all.”
Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Assoc. Manager Brian Furnish said because of this year’s difficult curing conditions, it may be a better choice to hang tobacco in field structures as opposed to traditional barns.

“Every year but last year, with outside curing, the quality was better than in the barn,” he said. “This year, I would rather have it outside.”

Yankey said there are some old practices farmers have used to try and up the moisture level in their barns, including opening the barn at night to take advantage of the humidity and dew and closing it in the daytime to try to keep that moisture in. Also, many producers have wet the floor of the tobacco barn.

“Nothing is real effective. Tobacco is basically drying up instead of curing up,” he said.

Yankey added if conditions don’t improve, tobacco farmers will have to sell their crop for whatever they can get out of it and decide whether they want to grow it again next year.

As if the weather had not been bad enough, last week many areas of the state saw an early frost as hotter-than-normal temperatures all summer gave way to temperatures that dipped into the 30s for a brief period. UK meteorologist Tom Priddy said the median date for frost usually occurs between Oct. 11-25.

The colder weather didn’t last long, however, as near-record heat returned last weekend.