Weekly Weather and Crop Update

Looking at the Weekly Weather and Crop Update from the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca is was a very good week for growing corn. Corn planted in April grew 2 feet and is now 7 foot tall. Temperatures averaged 75.3 degrees, 3.4 degrees above normal. Rainfall totaled 1.08 inches which was only .03 inches above normal. Growing degree units accumulated for the week totaled 172 and that was 24 percent above normal. The grand total since May 1 is 1169.5 growing degree units.

The Waseca area has been very fortunate that they have missed the really heavy rains. My farm is only 25 miles south of Waseca and we have a lot of yellow stunted corn and drowned out areas, especially in bean fields. Then you look at southwestern Minnesota. There were areas that received 15 or 16 inches in one week! So, again this year it all depends on where your farm was located and how heavy and frequent the rains were.

With the road construction on Interstate 35 south of Owatonna I typically take the back roads through Morristown and Waseca when I am heading out to the farm. It is discouraging seeing all the nice looking corn and beans compared to what they look like around my farm. It occurred to me one day that a couple years ago Waseca had about 10 inches of rain and very serious flooding.

I remembered thinking that year I was thankful that my crops did not look like they did around Waseca! I guess when you are a farmer, over the decades we all take out "turn" at receiving adverse weather. That is why we buy crop insurance!