VIGO COUNTY/PARKE COUNTY, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — There’s an old saying used among farmers around the summer, ‘if your corn is knee-high by the Fourth of July, you’re good to go.” For some, the idea of crops planted comes as a sense of relief after a year of challenges.
Those include inflation and fertilizer costs, but now a new concern, is a drought on the way?
On average, June is the wettest month with around five inches of rain. But at WTWO/WAWV, we’ve gotten less than an inch of rain.
At Be-N-Ag farms on Louisville Road in Terre Haute, hundreds of acres are filled with soybeans and corn. Despite the challenges, Farmer, and Partner, Brad Burbrink, said he is feeling optimistic.
‘We’re feeling good about the crop. With a stretch of 90-degree days we could use some rain,” He said.
Recent weather conditions are being described as abnormally hot and dry. The climate has already caused some weed issues in fields due to some chemicals in herbicides needing rain to be active.
Earlier this year, heavy rain caused the planting season to be slightly behind schedule. With some crops being planted just a few weeks ago, little to no rain is limiting growth.
‘The crop could go down quickly as we go into July. We need moisture and some temperature relief,” Burbrink added.
The last time the Wabash Valley had drought conditions was in the summer of 2020. Our area got less than three inches of rain from August to Mid-October.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Indiana farmers are expected to plant more soybeans and less corn compared to last year.
Kurt Lanzone with Purdue Extension in Parke County said, weather can affect crop prices, but it’s too soon to tell right now.
“One of the things any farmer or producer looks for in Indiana or any of the I states as we call it here in the Midwest is just normal climate averages. when we are in the normal climate averages that we see year in and year out, that’s what we look for because it’s one of the best places to grow crops in the world,” Lanzone said.
With the planting season completed, Burbrink said all he can do is put his plants in the best position for a successful harvest.
‘All we can do is hope and pray we get some rain and everything will be good,” Burbrink said.
The one perk of this dry weather for farmers has been that it is ideal for hay.
