It has been quite a relief to some local farmers, with the grain markets heading upwards and corn mostly past the dent stage, that we will pull off harvest of this corn crop. Corn silage harvest is well underway, and in just a few weeks grain combines will begin harvest. They tell me that the escaped convict in upstate New York is “out of the woods,” and I don’t know if he is happy about that or not.  However, I was reminded this week that we are not “out of the woods” yet in regards to this crop. Until the corn crop is in a bin we still have major risks of loss as evidenced by a farm visit in Columbia County this week. The farmer wasn’t around the farm during the storm, but knew by the look of the crop it must have been pretty bad. This also reminded me of the meeting with the corn breeder several weeks ago who mentioned their work to develop shorter corn hybrids. The attached photos show an aerial view of  the lodged crop. There were two hybrids planted on this field, with a pretty clear line marking their locations apparent in some photos.

I will also attach a video showing some flyover footage. I think we still have a harvestable crop, but we better get the crop lifters ready like we used in 2013 to harvest the blown down corn that year. We know at this stage of maturity, we can still make a good crop, but it will take its toll on man and machine alike. Farmers earn every dollar, and this one will be well deserved on all accounts.