PEORIA, Ill. – This growing season could end up becoming quite the struggle for farmers – thanks in part to the fact there’s been little to no rain for weeks now.
“Peoria (is the) 8th driest since 1883, since April 1,” said DeLoss Jahnke, WMBD Agribusiness Director. “Normal (is the) 4th driest. Peoria is down six and a half normal, Normal is down seven inches from average.”
Illinois’ corn crop is starting to enter a “make-or-break” stage, and in short, the ongoing drought is not helping things any, says Jahnke.
“If (corn) was planted May 1 or somewhere around there, then hopefully you’ve got some time,” said Jahnke. “But, it just seems like every day we go without has the potential to make things worse.”
Jahnke says a bit of dryness is okay in the early stages of corn development, but not now. He’s reminded of another recent drought that did some strange things to the corn crop.
“What I think about, what I certainly hope doesn’t come to pass, is Nebraska, western Corn Belt states, last year had a terrible drought,” said Jahnke. “The ears were just so inconsistent. Some just had little nubs for corn kernels on them. Some of them didn’t fill out at all. Even the irrigated corn had a tough time trying to get through that.”
Jahnke says corn is going to start tasseling and go through reproductive stages, so the longer the drought goes on, the more stressed the corn plant will be.
