Corn harvest nearly complete in one state

Nov 19, 2018

Excessive moisture caused significant yield loss, one producer said

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

American farmers are on the final stretches of the 2018 corn harvest.

Producers have harvested about 84 percent of the crop, the USDA’s latest Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin says. That number is up from 76 percent last week.

Producers in six states have combined more than 90 percent of their corn.

Farmers in North Carolina, for example, have harvested 99 percent of their corn crop, the USDA says.

The corn looked good early on, but heavy rains caused significant yield reductions, said Jeff Sparks, a producer from Tyrrell County, N.C.

“I was very pleased with my corn in the summer, but we had 14 inches of rain in July and August that robbed us of about 40 percent of our yield,” he told Farms.com. “We usually average between 180 and 190 bushels per acre, but we ended up in the 120 to 130 range.”

Sparks’s farm is located about 30 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and the summer rains were tropical, he said.

In September, more rain came from Hurricane Florence.

The heavy rains serve as a reminder that Mother Nature is always in charge, Sparks said.

“We’ve got pretty good drainage here which does a good job of getting water off, but few fields can withstand 10 to 12 consecutive days of heavy rain like we had. There wasn’t much we could do but just watch it come down.”

While some farmers near the end of their harvests, others are monitoring their winter wheat emergence.

About 77 percent of the U.S. winter wheat crop is up, the USDA says. That number has climbed from 70 percent last week.

About 95 percent of Colorado’s winter wheat has emerged. But the crop needs moisture to yield well, said Jerry Cooksey, a producer from Roggen, Colo.

“I would say the crop looks okay but we’re going to need some help to get this crop to its full potential,” he told Farms.com. “We had a few small showers that helped it emerge, but it’s extremely dry here.”

In addition to dry conditions, Cooksey is also managing weeds in the fields.

“There’s always weed challenges,” he said. “I’ve sprayed for cheatgrass now, but I’m sure more of that will be done in the spring.”

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.