{"id":93098,"date":"2017-09-18T05:20:49","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T10:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=93098"},"modified":"2017-09-20T21:04:44","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T02:04:44","slug":"young-says-overall-county-crops-looking-fairly-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/09\/18\/young-says-overall-county-crops-looking-fairly-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Young says county crops look fairly good"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

Although Van Wert County crops are looking reasonably good this year, Curtis Young, county agriculture educator for the Ohio State University Extension Service, said good crop management is essential to getting the most out of any field.<\/p>\n

While he stressed that, like most years, there is significant variability from field to field, Young said county corn and soybean fields look fairly good.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Curtis Young, Ohio State University Extension agriculture educator, holds a moldy ear of corn from a local field.<\/strong> Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAfter the shaky start at the beginning of the season, with all the weather events, things are actually looking fairly decent in a number of fields, depending on what part of the county you\u2019re looking at,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In general, Young said crops on the east side of the county were less affected by the weather, compared to the western side of the county, which he said got \u201chammered\u201d by adverse weather early on.<\/p>\n

Young first discussed the corn crop, noting that corn is pretty much done developing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe corn crop is the corn crop; it\u2019s what it\u2019s going to be,\u201d Young said. \u201cThe only thing that could happen now is it could simply get worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

With hurricane season now ongoing in the Caribbean and south Atlantic Ocean — and two major storms already spawned — Young said future hurricane-related weather could still adversely affect local corn production.<\/p>\n

Weather is not the only thing that can affect crops at this point, Young added, noting that mold and other fungal issues, as well as pollination problems and uneven crop maturity, could still be a problem for local grain producers.<\/p>\n

He advised farmers to walk through their fields and evaluate their crops to make sure they don\u2019t have crop development and other issues.<\/p>\n

If found, Young said, such issues could have an effect on a farmer\u2019s crop management plan, since development issues could result in farmers having to harvest a field earlier than others, or perhaps segregate affected grain from other crops to avoid spreading the problem.<\/p>\n

The Extension educator said flooding earlier in the season could also have resulted in corn producers replanting patches of fields to get better coverage. However, doing so could result in uneven crop development in a field — and possibly to pollination issues for the corn planted later in the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons we plant corn as densely as we do is to ensure there is enough pollen out there to float down from the tassels to the silks on the ears, because it\u2019s all wind pollinated,\u201d Young said, adding that some of the plants planted later may not have gotten enough pollen to properly mature. \u201cYou could see some major ups and downs in the production.\u201d<\/p>\n

The OSU Extension agent said early moisture could benefit this year’s crops — especially since there wasn\u2019t a lot of excessive heat later on — because it reduces water stress on the plants later in the season. However, Young also cautioned that early moisture can also result in weed and insect issues later on.<\/p>\n

Soybeans, because they continue to develop throughout the crop year, are better able to deal with issues that arise later in the season, the OSU educator said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe soybean is a much more flexible crop,\u201d Young noted. \u201cIt can take advantage of later season events. It\u2019s a much more forgiving crop.\u201d<\/p>\n

But weed and insect problems can still arise, while wind and hail storms are also potential problems.<\/p>\n

Like with corn, Young said producers need to get into the fields and evaluate plants to ensure they don\u2019t have weed or insect issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cRoadside evaluations can kind of trick us,\u201d the Extension educator said, although he added he hasn\u2019t seen a lot of weed or insect issues at this point. However, he said there is still time for problems to arise.<\/p>\n

The crucial issue for any grain producer is crop management: how well a farmer manages insect and weed control and deals with other production-related issues.<\/p>\n

With some weeds becoming more herbicide resistant, Young said crop producers need to wisely manage weed control measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some soybean fields that are a real mess, when it comes to weed pressure,\u201d Young noted, \u201cwhile others are pristine and picture perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key to good weed management, Young said, is regular herbicide rotation. Young said that too many of farmers have relied on Roundup\u00ae as their sole herbicide because of its relative low cost and its ease of use, but there are now a number of weeds that are resistant to the herbicide.<\/p>\n

The OSU educator said farmers are now using Liberty\u00ae because it kills weeds that are resistant to Roundup\u00ae, but Young said too much reliance on that herbicide would likely put farmers right back in the situation they are in with Roundup\u00ae.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to know your products and how they impact your weeds,\u201d he said, explaining that a good weed management program incorporates different products that affect different characteristics of weed species.<\/p>\n

When, and how often, fields are sprayed with herbicide is also an issue. If weeds are sprayed too late in the season, they will be too big for effective management, Young added. Farmers who are able to spray their own herbicides have an advantage as well, since they are able to spray at optimum times for effective weed management, while those who use an outside contractor must wait until they\u2019re scheduled for crop spraying, which could be too late in the year.<\/p>\n

Overall, Young said he expects an average to a better than average yield this year from county crops, if conditions remain as they are. However, it’s hard to tell what prices will look like this year, since Ohio farmers have little or no impact on grain prices.<\/p>\n

Young said if warm, reasonably dry weather continues, some farmers could take early-planted crops off in a week or two, while colder, wetter weather could push harvest times back.<\/p>\n

After crops are harvested, farmers then have to make the choice of whether to plant winter wheat or a cover crop, or allow the field to remain fallow. Young said the later crops are harvested, the fewer options that remain for cover crops, with cereal rye and winter wheat the only options for late-harvested fields.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, winter wheat production has fallen drastically the last few years — mostly because, at current prices, the value of the grain is not great enough to cover the cost of production. Young said the situation with winter wheat is unfortunate, because it reduces farmers to a two-year rotation (corn, soybeans, corn or corn, soybeans, soybeans, soybeans), rather than a three-year rotation, which can adversely affect soil and crop quality, as well as weed and insect issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Although Van Wert County crops are looking reasonably good this year, Curtis Young, county agriculture educator for the Ohio State University Extension Service, said good crop management is essential to getting the most out of any field. While he stressed that, like most years, there is significant variability from field to field, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-02 11:36:57","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93098\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}