JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — With corn tasseling in southern Indiana now, crop and weather conditions vary dramatically in the Midwest.

 

Simon Kafari, extension advisor for agriculture in Clark County, said recent conversations with corn farmers have revealed two concerns: a lack of moisture at a crucial stage and the possibility of southern rust migrating south after being found in the northern part of the state.

“The corn is tasseling now and needs water to develop. Soybeans need water now, too, to continue to develop,” Kafari explained. “They also are concerned about southern rust. It’s not here yet, but it is affecting corn in the northern part of the state and it looks like there is some movement to the south.

“That’s the only good thing about a lack of rain now. The risk of a fungal infection like southern rust is lower with drier weather,” he said.

Conditions in northern Illinois in recent weeks have been exactly the opposite, with an abundance of rain. According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) progress reports for the week ending July 23, Illinois saw a statewide average of 1.8 inches of rain, 0.82 inch above normal.

According to the National Weather Service (NWS) website, July was a wet month for far northern Illinois. In the 30-day stretch of June 23-July 22, Rockford, in north-central Winnebago County, received 11.96 inches of rain. The NWS reported that was the wettest 30-day stretch for the city since 2007 (July 27-Aug. 25, 14.39 inches).

Russ Higgins, commercial ag advisor based in Morris, Ill., in Grundy County, said crops are looking pretty good overall, considering the conditions they’ve endured, including a wet spring, a cold June and a dry spell with lawns and pastures going dormant.

“Parts of northern Illinois, along the border with Wisconsin, have been inundated with tremendous rainfall events and even some hail in the past couple of weeks,” he said. “But there are corridors along Interstate 80 and south where we’re actually dry and in need of rain. “We have it all,” he added.

Bill McNeill, Lake County Farm Bureau director, said he’s lost 10-11 percent of his soybeans because they are underwater. Although he’s not sure about the corn, he said he’s lost at least 1-2 percent.

“Any low-lying areas or fields near drainage ditches, along the Des Plaines River, areas like that are in bad shape,” he added. “This is hard, because we have come off several years of nearly ideal conditions. Because some crops were actually replanted, and they won’t pollinate until early August.

“As a whole, we’re a little behind where we expect to be this time of year,” Higgins said.

According to the NASS crop condition report for the week ending July 23, corn condition was rated in Illinois as 14 percent excellent, 49 percent good and 26 percent fair; in Indiana, 9 percent excellent, 38 percent good, 35 percent fair; in Iowa, 13 percent excellent, 55 percent good, 24 percent fair; in Kentucky, 15 percent excellent, 64 percent good, 16 percent fair; in Michigan, 14 percent excellent, 55 percent good, 23 percent fair; in Ohio, 14 percent excellent, 42 percent good, 34 percent fair; and in Tennessee, 39 percent excellent, 47 percent good, 11 percent fair.

On the soybean front, in Illinois 13 percent of the crop was rated excellent, 46 percent good and 27 percent fair; in Indiana, only 9 percent excellent, 38 percent good, 36 percent fair; in Iowa, 9 percent excellent, 53 percent good, 28 percent fair; in Kentucky, 9 percent excellent, 61 percent good, 25 percent fair; in Michigan, 10 percent excellent, 55 percent good, 25 percent fair; in Ohio, 9 percent excellent, 38 percent good, 35 percent fair; and in Tennessee, 26 percent excellent, 53 percent good, 14 percent fair.