Area corn crop looking great w/ agriculture statistics search

By Roger McKinney

rmckinney@joplinglobe.com

Barton County farmer Joe Meadows said he expects his corn harvest to yield between 160 and 180 bushels per acre. He said traditionally, that yield is around 140 bushels per acre.

“It looks to be a record crop here on my farm,” Meadows said.

It’s the same across other parts of the country as favorable weather has helped farmers produce what could be a huge harvest, with projections calling for 13 billion bushels. That would approach the 13.04 billion bushels harvested in 2007.

Meadows said he planted his 600 acres about six to eight weeks later than normal. He said he lost all the corn he planted in April because of heavy rain and he had to replant.

The late planting has created another problem, he said.

“Because of delayed planting, we’ve got moisture levels that are so high,” Meadows said. “It’s going to require a lot of drying on the farm with propane gas.”

Meadows also said that while prices have declined, they are still higher than they were before the ethanol boom.

“All in all, with these yields, there’s going to be some profit,” Meadows said.

Harvest improves

Gary Clark, senior director of market development for the Missouri Corn Growers Association, said in many areas of the state, the yield will be above that of last year.

“We look to have a very good corn crop across the state,” Clark said. An exception may be in Northeast Missouri, where wet weather wiped out some crops.

“The harvested acres are going to be up,” Clark said, noting that flooding along the Mississippi River that happened last year didn’t happen this year.

He said there is a slight risk that an early frost could cause some real issues with harvest.