GLASFORD, Ill. (HOI) - The month of June up to this weekend has been abnormally warm and dry with some days' temperatures exceeding the 90-degree mark. Prolonged dry and hot periods in this region can spell disaster for local farmers as the crop is still very young and development at this stage is crucial. However, a brief dry spell before the earing period is not always a bad thing.
"Well, we've had two or three weeks of dry weather and that's plenty of dry weather so we would like to get some rain now, but that did allow the root system to develop and grow deeper to be able to withstand the dry weather, going forward, and just have a good rooting system to anchor the plant as it starts to set ears later on next month." Said Patrick Kirchofer, Manager of the Peoria County Farm Bureau.
Corn has a natural defense mechanism to hot and prolonged dry weather. 'Pineappling' where the corn leaves curl around the plant to protect itself from drying out too much is a common sight during times like this. Glasford farmer, Justin Towery, explains that despite some of the harsher elements from this weekend, the rain was very welcome.
"So we weren't to the point where it was super detrimental to our end yield, this three inches came, perfect. I mean, we could have done without the wind could have done without the hail but the rain and then have a few cool days and let this crop kind of absorb it and suck it up and recover from it."
The cooler day today and continued sunny days later this week will also help the corn recover from the weekend storms.
June 22, 2021 at 05:30AM
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Dry and hot weather impacting local corn crop - HOI ABC
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