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U.S. corn enters dough stage

U.S. corn enters dough stage

About 2 percent of corn is in this stage

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

U.S. corn crops are entering the next development stage.

About 2 percent of the crop is in the dough stage, the USDA’s July 12 Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin says.

U.S. corn farmers planted around 89.9 million acres of corn in 2022, the USDA said in its June 30 acreage report.

This means about 1,798,000 acres of corn are in the dough stage.

On a state level, corn in Texas is the furthest along.

About 52 percent of that state’s corn is in the dough stage. This is down from 59 percent last year.

The only other states with significant corn in the dough stage are North Carolina (30 percent) and Tennessee (11 percent).

U.S. soybeans continue to set pods.

About 6 percent of soybeans have set pods, the USDA’s crop bulletin said.

With 88.3 million acres of soybeans planted in 2022, this means about 5,298,000 acres of soybeans have set pods.

Soybeans in Louisiana are the furthest along.

Around 78 percent of soybeans in the state have set pods.

This is followed by soybeans in Mississippi (46 percent), Arkansas (42 percent) and North Carolina (12 percent).

The USDA will release its next Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin on July 19.


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Since blackberries must be harvested by hand, the process is time-consuming and labor-intensive. To support a growing blackberry industry in Arkansas, food science associate professor Renee Threlfall is collaborating with mechanical engineering assistant professor Anthony Gunderman to develop a mechanical harvesting system. Most recently, the team designed a device to measure the force needed to pick a blackberry without damaging it. The data from this device will help inform the next stage of development and move the team closer to the goal of a fully autonomous robotic berry picker. The device was developed by Gunderman, with Yue Chen, a former U of A professor now at Georgia Tech, and Jeremy Collins, then a U of A undergraduate engineering student. To determine the force needed to pick blackberries without damage, the engineers worked with Threlfall and Andrea Myers, then a graduate student.