While most of the corn crop continues to suffer from drought, Ferrie says fields in central Illinois still have a lot of potential.
“To look at it overall you have to say there’s a lot of yield potential out there yet,” he says.
He says good stand counts, health and very little disease mean the possibility of good yields if there is good pollination.
“We’re in a tough spot,” he says. “We’re starting to pollinate our first corn and we’ve got anywhere from 3 to 6 leaves to go on the rest of it. So we’ll be pollinating in the next 10 days.”
Like most of farm country the temperatures in central Illinois are unseasonably hot. Ferrie says nearly 100 degree temperatures are not good for pollination. He says hot weather shortens up pollen life and is tough on the silks.
Ferrie says there are fewer possibilities than last year for yield potential of this crop but the crop is probably in as good a shape than it was last year. Water will be determining factor. He says the crop needs water badly and soon. Ferrie urges farmers to consider what will happen if the rain doesn’t come.
“I think we have to think about more like what happened in 88 when we didn’t have water,” he says. “I think this year is a carbon copy of ‘88.”
Learn more from Ferrie in this segment of AgDay:
