Early harvest projected this year

A report issued by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) this week indicated that 4 percent of the corn crop has already been harvested in Iowa. That is higher than the average for this time of which, when typically only 1 percent of the crop has been harvested. Some farmers who were hit hard by the summer drought have chopped their corn for silage.

Iowa State University crop specialist Jim Fawcett said he hasn?t seen many fields in southeast Iowa that have been combined yet. He said that the early reports from elevators in the state is that loads of corn are being rejected because of the presence of a toxin called Aflatoxin.

Aflatoxin is produced by a fungus that infects the plant during pollination. Fawcett said that, unfortunately, this summer?s weather was ideal for the fungus. It doesn?t take much of the toxin for grain elevators to reject the corn. Fawcett said that only 20 parts per billion of Aflatoxin need be present for the elevators to turn the corn away. Fortunately, the recent low temperatures in August have alleviated the problem somewhat.

The low temperatures have also reduced the spider mite infestation in soybeans. Spider mites thrived this summer because they love hot, dry weather. Fawcett said they were a bigger problem north of Washington County because Washington County has gotten more rain than its neighbors to the north. Spider mites tend to infect the edges of soybean fields because the spiders live in the ditches. Infected fields tend to turn yellow or brown.

East central Iowa has received a normal amount of rainfall for August, Fawcett said. Some areas have received over 3 inches but the average is closer to 1.5 to 3 inches for the region. The rain and the mild temperatures are coming too late in the year to help the corn grow any larger, but they will help the corn grow larger kernels.

?These cool temperatures have slowed down the development of corn,? he said. ?The corn isn?t going to produce anymore kernels, but the kernels will fill out more. That will make the test weight better. The rain would have been more effective three weeks sooner, but it will help the corn some.?

Farmers should not have to spend as much on LP gas this year to dry their corn. Fawcett expects farmers to have to dry some corn, though, because it will need to be harvested sooner than normal. Corn that is infected with an earmold, especially one that produces aflatoxin, should be harvested early and dried so the mold does not have a chance to grow.

Another problem farmers will face is that the corn stalks are very weak from the drought, which means they are susceptible to falling over this fall. This is another reason farmers will want to harvest earlier than normal.

Fawcett anticipates the yield estimates for eastern Iowa to be about 140 bushels per acre for corn. He said the counties south of Washington County figure to be worse. He said that 140 bushels per acre is about 40 acres below the trend line yield. He expects soybean yields to be in the mid-40s. He thinks that the areas of the state that have gotten rain should receive a normal yield.

?Grain farmers should come out OK considering the prices are so high,? he said. ?A lot of them are guaranteed somewhere between 75 and 85 percent of their proven yield. The livestock producers are the ones who will be hurting because the feed is so expensive.?