Day two of the 12-state tour
By Diego Flammini, Farms.com
After visiting Ohio on the first leg of the 2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour, Chief Commodity Strategist Moe Agostino and the Farms.com Risk Management team traveled to Indiana.
“The state of Indiana is looking a bit better, but nothing like last year in the state of Indiana,” Agostino said, standing in front of a soybean field near Rushville.
A corn field near Manilla, Indiana showed some better consistency but Agostino said at this time last year, some corn started tasseling and ears were present.
Indiana has been under heavy rain for nearly the entire month of June, resulting in flash flooding, with some experts estimating the economic impact on the crops could be upwards of $300 million.
“Just too much water and I always refer to June as a crop establishment month,” said Ken Kerr from Pride Seed. “It looks like there’s a lot of acres that unestablished themselves in the last three weeks.”
Kerr said it’s a drastic change from nearly two weeks ago.
“(Now they’re) yellow, water logged, not getting oxygen to the roots and what remains to be seen is how those acres recover in the next 7-10 day forecast,” he said. “(It) doesn’t show that much for the recovery.”
If anyone understands the magnitude of the moisture in the area, it’s the farmers themselves.
“Nothing around here is going to be like last year,” said Joe Mills, a farmer from Waynetown, Indiana who can be followed on Twitter @TheHippieFarmer. “Between 10-15 inches (of rain) in the month of June is what we’ve had. For the conditions we’ve had, I’m happy with the shape we’re in.”
Overall, the outlook for Indiana could be lower than last year.
“We’ve just seen too much moisture do too much damage to too many soybean and cornfields,” Agostino said. “There’s more moisture in the forecast and I have to think the yields are going to be down.”
The next stop on the Corn Belt Crop Tour is Illinois. Be sure to follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #CornBelt15.