Small Town News

Rain causing delays in harvesting crops

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Ohio County farmers have teetered on the brink of disaster all summer long and still there is the chance for a very good harvest.

That was the opinion of Ohio County Extension agent Greg Comer when asked Monday about the devastating effect of recent heavy rains.

"It's not a pretty sight out there," Comer said. "Water is standing in fields ready to be harvested."

Comer said he talked to some farmers on Monday and was told they were operating equipment with mud up to the cleats on their tires.

"You can creep along in conditions like that without tearing up your field terribly bad, but it's still very slow going," the agent said.

Still, with all of the rain and the mud that's followed, Comer said prospects for very good harvests still exist.

"I'm being told there will be 50 to 80 bushels-per-acre soybeans and that corn could come in at 175 to 250 bushels-per-acre," Comer said. "Those will be great yields."

However, most of those yields still are in the fields and Comer said a lot of cooperation is needed from Mother Nature in making them a reality.

With about 45 inches of rain being the annual norm in Ohio County and the surrounding area, the agent said 48 inches have already fallen and the year still has two and a half months to go.

Comer said farmers normally would have 50 percent of their corn crops harvested by this time of the year, but as of Monday, only about 20 percent was completed.

While a lot of corn is ready to harvest, the moisture content remains a major concern.

"We're seeing 26 to 28 percent moisture content and that means some farmers are going to have to spend a lot of additional money on drying," Comer said.

And if corn harvesting is a problem, soybeans are in a worse condition.

"It takes a lot of water to get up to an ear of corn on a stalk, but that's not the case with soybeans," the agent said. "A lot of soybeans are not even ready to harvest."

Even when some farmers are able to get harvesting equipment into fields, trucks to remove that harvest have to be left close to the roads. "Even tiled fields are not draining properly and sinkholes are developing," Comer said. "We don't like mud and Mother Nature is refusing to cooperate."

Farmers last year had to compete with late rainless conditions and extremely strong hurricane-like winds. This year it's too much rain and a lot of mud.

"We'll still be OK if we can get four or five weeks of dry weather," Comer said. "With the kinds of equipment farmers have today, a lot of work can be accomplished in a short period of time."

Along with corn and soybeans, getting tobacco crops out of the fields also is a problem this year.

"I'd say about 70 to 75 percent of tobacco has been cut, but on average, that crop would have been harvested long before now," the agent said.

What makes this year's tobacco harvest different than in years past is that Ohio County farmers do not have the acreage of it they once had.

"Tobacco still is generating income, but we simply don't have as many farmers growing it," Comer said.



Copyright 2009 The Ohio County Times-News, Hartford, Kentucky. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2010 The Ohio County Times-News Hartford, Kentucky. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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