Kevin Keller has high hopes for the 2024 Nebraska corn crop and with good reason. USDA is predicting record yield averages of 194 bu. per acre for corn and 59 bushels for soybeans, based on August 1 conditions. Keller’s one question for now is how much recent storms have impacted what farmers will combine come harvest.
“When you look at some of the key corn-producing counties that were hit hard by hail, like Phelps County, that’s going to have a significant impact on the state’s final yield results,” Keller, a Pioneer field agronomist, told AgDay’s Michelle Rook earlier this week.
Farmer scouts saw significant damage in corn fields across southern and south-central Nebraska.
“We came through looking for it (hail damage), and I knew it was here. Probably 20,000 to 30,000 acres,” says Leon Dorn, who farms near Adams, Neb.
“There’s probably a 9- or 10-mile-long area where we saw hail damage and there was nothing to sample,” adds Brent Judisch, an Iowa farmer and scout on the western leg of the Tour.
While Nebraska has endured “several rounds of hail,” Keller says, it’s not the only state with farmers dealing with the problem this season.
Corn Growth Stage Is A Big Consideration
Iowa and Illinois farmers are also dealing with damaged corn crops, due to recent bouts of hailstorms.
Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie says some fields on the west side of Illinois were hit by hail last week, with much of the crop between V12 and V14 growth stages.
“We spent some time in those fields, and the top of the plants look OK. But from the ear zone down the (stalks are bruised) and yield will be affected,” Ferrie says.
Older corn plants hit by hail often sustain stalk bruising, whorl damage and physical damage to kernels on the ears, says Daniel Quinn, Purdue Extension corn specialist, during a recent webinar on assessing hail damage.
Severely bruised corn stalks from hail can limit the plants’ ability to translocate water and nutrients and/or cause the growing point region to die, Quinn reports.
“Yield loss in corn is greatest at the critical pollination period (VT/R1),” he says.
Ferrie says Illinois farmers who have had hail damage on their L1 hybrids in the past week to 10 days are likely to see some poor ear fill. Unfortunately, Ferrie says poor ear fill is often deemed “no loss” when it comes to working with hail insurance providers.
“If you’re in this area of Illinois that had hail and you have L1 hybrids planted, I would suggest that you ask the insurance adjuster to come out and take a second look, because you’re probably going to find a lot of small ears,” Ferrie says.
Free Resource Available For Farmers
Iowa State Field Agronomists, Meaghan Anderson and Rebecca Vittetoe, advise contacting your crop insurance agent as soon as you are aware of the hail damage. However, they advise waiting approximately seven days after the hail event to actually evaluate damage, which allows for easier differentiation between dead and living tissue at this point in the growing season. A loss of 50% of leaf area at R3 (milk) would be associated with nearly 20% loss in corn yield.
Quinn says to not apply a fungicide to a hail-damaged crop with the expectation that will help the crop recover. “There is a common misconception that foliar fungicides will improve crop recovery and yield following hail damage. This is largely not true due to bacterial diseases being the primary invader of corn following hail, which foliar fungicides are unable to control. In addition, a defoliated crop is less likely to effectively take up fungicide,” Quinn says in an online article available at Assessing Hail Damage On Corn - Extension Entomology.
However, be proactive in checking hail-damaged corn, say Vittetoe and Anderson. “Monitor stands carefully for the development of stalk and ear rots that could result in crop lodging and grain quality issues. Damaged grain will be at increased risk of mycotoxin.” The Iowa State field agronomists have developed a free resource for farmers to use to assess damage in older corn crops, available here: Effect of Late-Season Hail on Corn and Soybean
