Back in April, farmers around the Fort Wayne area were facing wet weather conditions at the start of planting season. Now, those same farmers are facing dry conditions as we inch closer to the start of this year’s harvest season.
“We just wrapped up the month of August, and if it wouldn’t have been for a 3/4-inch rain that came through Fort Wayne on August 28th, we would have had just an extremely dry August,” says Don Wyss, a corn and soybean producer from Allen County. He’s also a member of the Executive Committee for the United Soybean Board.
“Even with that rain last week, we still are faced with the eighth-driest August overall in the Fort Wayne area,” he says.
Wyss tells Hoosier Ag Today the recent drought stress and disease pressures will have an impact on corn and soybean yields near Fort Wayne.
“I never like to see a dry August,” he says. “I think we’re going to be dealing with smaller soybeans. We took off that top edge of that yield potential as we went through that dry August with some high heat in mid-August. I’m a little more optimistic on corn yields, but with that disease pressure we’ve seen in our area with tar spot and southern rust, it may have quietly knocked out some additional yields with some of those late disease pressures that came in.”
Just how soon could you be seeing combines harvesting farm fields around Allen County?
“I’m starting to hear a potential start to harvest from folks here in the next week or two. Those are the one who will be harvesting those earliest hybrids, varieties and maturities of corn and soybeans,” according to Wyss.
“On our farm, we will see harvest activity beginning in the next two-to-three weeks since we started a little bit later in the spring. We also focus more on fuller-season maturities and varieties on corn and soybeans, but as we know this time of year, the days tick by fast and we’ll all be out there soon,” he says.
CLICK BELOW for Hoosier Ag Today’s full conversation with Fort Wayne farmer Don Wyss:
