Published: June 09, 2009 11:30 pm         

Wabash Valley farmers behind schedule

TERRE HAUTE — It’s crunch time for planting corn in the Wabash Valley.

A cool, wet spring has put corn planting well behind the normal schedule, according to data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“It’s been extremely wet,” said Terry Hayhurst, a farmer in southern Vigo County. Hayhurst is working to plant what’s left of his expected corn crop this week. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had about three-fourths of his corn planted and a little under 100 acres to go, he said.

“I’ll keep planting until it rains,” Hayhurst said.

Ideally, corn should be planted by May 10. After that date, yields start to drop between one and two bushels per acre, said Jim Luzar, Extension educator for the Purdue University Extension office in Vigo County. After June 1, yields start to fall by about two bushels per acre, he said.

“There’s no way to get around the fact that planting in June is not ideal,” Luzar said.

Many farmers will stop planting corn and switch to soybeans if it rains today, Luzar noted. Soybean planting season ends a little later than corn planting season.

Corn yields will average about 175 bushels per acre for corn planted by May 1. By June 10, yields fall to around 123 bushels per acre, according to a Purdue study that looked at average yields in Central Illinois, Luzar said.

As of June 7, about 90 percent of Hoosier corn had been planted compared with a five-year average of 98 percent, USDA figures show. Soybeans also are behind schedule in Indiana. As of June 7, about 69 percent of soybeans had been planted statewide compared with the five-year average of 87 percent.

While Hoosier farmers are behind schedule on average, things have been especially tough in the southern half of the state, Luzar said. “We’d be doing good to have half of our beans planted around here,” he said.

Apart from the timing of planting, several other factors can affect crop yields, Luzar noted. These other factors include temperature and rainfall after planting as well as crop disease and insects.

Although planting season has been delayed, warm and moist soil is helping the seeds that have been planted, Luzar noted. Corn has been “spiking through the ground” within a week of being planted, he said. “That’s a good thing. … What’s planted has been looking good.”

Hayhurst, who has been farming since the 1980s, also said that several things besides the timing of planting can influence crop yields in the end. He recalled an especially dry year in the 1980s when he told TV reporters that conditions were pointing toward a very low yield year. It ended up being an average year, he said. Even last year, despite replanting caused by the June 7 flooding, yields were about average, he said.

“You really don’t know what you have until you put it in the bin,” Hayhurst said.

Anyone with questions about planting can contact the Purdue Extension office in Vigo County at (812) 462-3371. More information also is available at www.kingcorn.org/cafe.

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com