LAPORTE COUNTY, Ind. – Some corn growers in northern Indiana could see a noticeable reduction in yields from cobs lacking kernels due to poor pollination.

Ears with as little as 20 percent of their maximum kernels are blamed on extended periods of extremely dry, hot weather early in the summer, killing some of the pollen in corn tassels the plants use to self-pollinate and fill out their ears during the growing season.

Farmer Jeff Mitzner, of Wanatah in LaPorte County, expects as much as a 50 percent reduction in his corn yields from poor pollination and continued dry conditions during the soon-to-be-expired grain fill period.

Farmer Matt Schafer in nearby Wanatah reported similar findings in some of his corn fields.

“I’ve checked some ears and they’re less than stellar in spots,” he said.

Brieanna Slonaker, the agriculture and natural resources educator at Purdue University Extension in Marshall County, said the problem is spotty and rests in pocket areas too dry and hot leading up to pollination.

Rain showers were often scattered enough during the growing season for just a few miles to make the difference between having adequate rainfall or drought-like conditions.

“There are some fields that are completely fine and some that aren’t,” Slonaker said.

Mark Parkman, from Westville, received adequate rain for his corn despite living within a short drive from areas struggling with drought.

“I really have nothing to complain about. It looks like we’re doing OK right now,” he said.

Mitzner said he wouldn’t be surprised if corn yields on farms in his region varied from as high as 250 to as low as 100 bushels per acre.

Schafer also expects yields to greatly differ from having areas that consistently received noticeably less rain than other nearby locations despite the clouds being from the same storm systems.

“It’s going to depend what rain clouds you were fortunate enough to be under, especially with corn,” he said.

Recent heavy showers have raised the hopes of drought-stricken farmers, especially for soybeans, which have a few more weeks for their pods to fully develop.

Corn, on the other hand, has pretty much reached maturity.

Mitzner said the condition of his soybeans was also hurt from below-average pollination that comes from the buds of those plants.

He believes his soybean yields could be 10 to 20 percent less than last year depending on the amount of rainfall leading up to and after Labor Day.

“It won’t be as good of a crop as we’ve had in the past few years,” he said.

Despite rain lately, Mitzner said it’s still dry enough in his area for the water table to be low enough to make it difficult for irrigation systems to draw enough water from ditches and wells.

“There’s still places that are plenty dry,” he said.

Parts of Michigan are also experiencing problems, especially with corn, stemming from poor pollination related to weather.

According to USDA, the condition of 10 percent of corn in Indiana on Aug. 17 was rated excellent; 51 percent good; 29 percent fair and 11 percent poor to very poor.

In Michigan, 5 percent of corn was rated excellent while 80 percent was evenly split between good and fair with 12 percent rated as poor to very poor.

The ratings for soybeans in Indiana were very similar while Michigan differed slightly with 5 percent of soybeans in excellent condition; 50 percent good; 30 percent fair with the remainder in poor to very poor condition, according to USDA.