Second state in a 12-state tour
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
The Farms.com Risk Management team rolled into Indiana as the 2016 U.S. Corn Belt Crop Tour continues to make its way across the U.S. Midwest.
Moe Agostino, Farms.com Risk Management Chief Commodity Strategist, said he’s concerned with the progress of some Indiana crops.
“This crop should be further ahead,” he said while visiting a field south of Indianapolis. “Whether I’m looking at beans or corn, it looks behind. It looks dry and looks like a lot of this area needs some moisture.”
Farmers got rain in late April and early May, but that seemed to hamper their progress.
“Everybody got in the field mid-to-late April, and then Mother Nature decided to turn the water on,” said Joe Mills, a farmer from Crawfordsville, Indiana. "We didn't roll wheels in the field for about three weeks."
“If we could plant all the corn in one day it would be May 2 or May 3.”
But since then, the fields haven’t gotten the moisture they need.
“It’s enough, probably at the bottom of enough,” Mills said. “For the rain we do have, things look okay.”
As the tour continued through the state, the crops seemed to improve.
“We finally found some tasseling corn,” Agostino said, standing in a field near Terra Haute. “We even have some ears in here.
Agostino gave both the corn and soybeans a score of 7/10.
Be sure to check back daily as more videos from the tour are posted. Its next stop is Illinois.
Use the hashtag #cornbelt16 to follow the tour on social media.