2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographWet weather starting to cut into Illinois corn
By David Mercer, The Associated Press
Posted: 6/11/08 Section: News
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The best land Brad Daugherty farms is 300 acres of Wabash River bottom, where high water regularly washes in nutrient-rich sediment.
This spring the 56-year-old farmer planted all 300 acres in corn, and went back and replanted half of it when heavy rain kept his seeds from germinating.
Then, last weekend came more rain, and lots of it, washing away everything Daugherty planted.
"It's seven foot under water right now," he said as he worked on a levee at his farm near West Union, along the Indiana border.
"It'll be every bit of two weeks" before it drains and dries, he said. "If not longer."
Now what?
That's a question a lot of farmers across Illinois find themselves asking as the wet, cool early spring that slowed planting and growth becomes a wet, warm late spring threatening to wash away a good chunk of an expected 12.6 million-acre corn crop.
The odds couldn't be much higher.
Escalating food prices have put tremendous pressure on farmers to produce bumper crops this year. But because of heavy rain in Illinois, and even more so in the other key corn states of Iowa and Indiana, corn futures prices have set new records above $7 a bushel this week.
And that threatens to push food prices even higher. Corn is used in a wide range of products from cereals to sodas, and as a livestock feed.
"It's going to take its toll a little bit on livestock producers, and I think would have some impact on retail meat prices down the road," said Darrel Good, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois.
Iowa is the nation's top corn state, growing 13.85 million acres last year, about 16 percent of the U.S. corn crop, according to the USDA. Illinois was the No. 2 producer, with 13.05 million acres.
It's too early to estimate how much the rain could end up cutting into the size or value of Illinois' corn crop. But crop experts say that if this year's crop is only 10 or 12 percent smaller than last year's, farmers should be happy.
This spring the 56-year-old farmer planted all 300 acres in corn, and went back and replanted half of it when heavy rain kept his seeds from germinating.
Then, last weekend came more rain, and lots of it, washing away everything Daugherty planted.
"It's seven foot under water right now," he said as he worked on a levee at his farm near West Union, along the Indiana border.
"It'll be every bit of two weeks" before it drains and dries, he said. "If not longer."
Now what?
That's a question a lot of farmers across Illinois find themselves asking as the wet, cool early spring that slowed planting and growth becomes a wet, warm late spring threatening to wash away a good chunk of an expected 12.6 million-acre corn crop.
The odds couldn't be much higher.
Escalating food prices have put tremendous pressure on farmers to produce bumper crops this year. But because of heavy rain in Illinois, and even more so in the other key corn states of Iowa and Indiana, corn futures prices have set new records above $7 a bushel this week.
And that threatens to push food prices even higher. Corn is used in a wide range of products from cereals to sodas, and as a livestock feed.
"It's going to take its toll a little bit on livestock producers, and I think would have some impact on retail meat prices down the road," said Darrel Good, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois.
Iowa is the nation's top corn state, growing 13.85 million acres last year, about 16 percent of the U.S. corn crop, according to the USDA. Illinois was the No. 2 producer, with 13.05 million acres.
It's too early to estimate how much the rain could end up cutting into the size or value of Illinois' corn crop. But crop experts say that if this year's crop is only 10 or 12 percent smaller than last year's, farmers should be happy.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.
Be the first to comment on this story