Farmers Day Wednesday at the Indiana state fair was a perfect day for the annual parade of antique tractors and the Indiana Farm Bureau pancake breakfast. With all those farmers it’s also a great chance to see if they concur with USDA’s assessment Tuesday that record yielding crops are in those farm fields.
Scott Fritz farms about 2 hours north of Indianapolis in Pulaski County.
“If you back up a few weeks crops were phenomenal, there’s no doubt about it,” he told HAT. “Corn was good and green from top to bottom and beans had a wonderful color.”
But things have changed in that part of Indiana.
“In our area we had below normal rain in July,” Fritz explained. “We haven’t had a lot of rain so far in August, and the crops are starting to show that they could use a nice drink of water. Now will we take those good yields off of corn? Maybe not so much. We’re filling kernels at this point in time. Soybeans? Yeah, we could take a lot of yield off of soybeans if we don’t get some pretty nice rain in August. I hate to say that when everybody’s talking about record crops, but I would say the bloom has come off of northwest Indiana where I’m located from what it was a month ago.”
Farm Bureau president Don Villwock farms in southwest Indiana where he says the crops have been blessed for the most part.
“Had a few spots that didn’t get rain as we always have in Indiana. There are a few that miss a shower or two. Our beans kind of hurt there for a week. I really think we’re more concerned about the cool weather in the soybeans. The corn looks excellent though. I think we’re going to have some of the best corn we’ve ever had in southwestern Indiana.”
Villwock says much of the farm ground from Knox County north to Indianapolis shows crops with similar promise.
Fritz says it will be interesting to watch Indiana crops mature because of the overall cool summer.
“That cold spell we had in July, the corn just seemed to sit. Right in the middle of pollination it seemed like it didn’t do anything for a couple of weeks. It’s going to be interesting to see how maturity is really going to come as we move forward. Same thing with beans but beans are closer to being normal.”
Hoosier Ag Today brings you the latest from the fields across Indiana with Crop Watch – brought to you by Trupointe Cooperative and Winfield Solutions – now open in Milford.
See more from Fritz, Villwock, and Farmers Day in the HAT video.