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“We did get some helpful moisture – although it was too late to get the
excellent yields that occurred last year."
Jim Herbek
UK Extension Grain Crops Specialist |
By Laura Skillman
PRINCETON, Ky., (Nov. 4, 2005) – Kentucky’s corn and soybean producers are
nearing the end of their 2005 harvest, with yields well below record levels but
better than many expected.
Corn harvest was 99 percent complete while 81 percent of the soybeans had been
harvested by the end of October, according to estimates by the Kentucky Field
Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Kentucky’s corn crop is expected to yield 147.3 million bushels for an average
of 127 bushels per acre. That’s 15 percent below the 2004 record high crop.
Soybean production is expected to come in 13 percent below the 2004 record crop
at 50 million bushels, or 40 bushels per acre, according to the reporting
service.
“I would not have expected these yields back in July,” said Jim Herbek, an
Extension grain crops specialist with the University of Kentucky Cooperative
Extension Service. “I would have thought they’d be a lot less. They came through
with the help of some timely rain even though they were stressed out.”
Hot temperatures and drought conditions across much of the state had farmers
concerned about crop yields. But rains from Hurricane Dennis helped to boost
corn, and Hurricane Katrina’s rains helped soybeans, particularly late-season
beans, he said.
“The corn crop seems to have turned out quite a bit better than most people were
expecting based on what we went through this year – a very, tough difficult
growing season in terms of moisture and temperatures,” he said. “We weren’t
expecting yields to be good but as the harvest progressed, yields were coming
out better than predicted.”
Herbek said rainfall from Hurricane Dennis helped corn ears to fill out.
“We did get some helpful moisture – although it was too late to get the
excellent yields that occurred last year,” he said.
Another reason for less than disastrous yields is better corn hybrids. During
similar dry periods in the 1980s, hybrids available then weren’t able to
overcome drought conditions as much as today’s hybrids are, he said.
Soybean yields are also coming in better than expected considering the stress
the plant went through during the growing season, Herbek said.
“Again we had the rainfall from Dennis and Katrina that really helped out,
especially the double-cropped beans,” he said. “They were really struggling to
maintain the pods they had. The beans seem to be a little bit smaller which is
understandable given the stress they were under.”
Corn and soybean yields nationally are expected to be lower than 2004 as many
areas of the country suffered through weather problems as well. Even with lower
yields, America’s farmers are expected to harvest the second-largest corn crop
on record.
Writer:
Laura Skillman
270-365-7541 ext. 278
Contact: Jim
Herbek, 270-365-7541 ext. 205
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