[ARCHIVED THREAD] - 2012 corn crop (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 7/9/2012 10:21:44 AM EDT
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I have some friends that work on farms in Wisconsin. They are telling me the corn crop for 2012 is going to be abysmal becaue of this heat wave. That they have whole fields that didnt produce any corn. The tassles are already out with no corn having been produced. They said the same was true in the other states near them.
Anyone else hear this? |
Bad here in Missouri too. Finally got some rain in some parts of the state this weekend (a whopping 0.07" for me  ), but it may well be too late to save much of the corn and soybean crops.
Heat, Lack of Rain Hurting Corn, Soybean Crops My own garden corn is starting to feel the pain too, and it's pretty heavily watered: 
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It's bad here too. No measurable rainfall since late May, and counting. Leaves on corn are rolled up like cigars, but not much yellow yet. Only about6 20-25% have tasseled just from my observation. I think another couple of weeks w/o rain and it'll move from bad to disaster... |
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It's bad here too. No measurable rainfall since late May, and counting. Leaves on corn are rolled up like cigars, but not much yellow yet. Only about6 20-25% have tasseled just from my observation. I think another couple of weeks w/o rain and it'll move from bad to disaster... Very similar to what we are seeing in NW IL. No rain in the forecast for a week, and temps in the 90's. |
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In the last 5 days I've driven from NE IL to NW IL to NW WI to NC WI and back to NE IL. Generally speaking most of the corn looked stressed to some extent, and some looked very stressed, but I didn't see any turning brown yet.
I understand that many points farther south are at or near total loss at this point. Starting to hear stories of farmers plowing the crops under, but don't know if that is truly widespread yet. |
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Bad here in Missouri too. Finally got some rain in some parts of the state this weekend (a whopping 0.07" for me ), but it may well be too late to save much of the corn and soybean crops.
Heat, Lack of Rain Hurting Corn, Soybean Crops My own garden corn is starting to feel the pain too, and it's pretty heavily watered: http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af227/mid_mo/Garden%202012/hotcorn.jpg My dad farms around 2000ish acres in MO. Luckily most of it is some of the best river bottom ground around. That being said, he says that we'll' be lucky to harvest 150 bu/acre on ground that consistently raises ~200 bu/acre. |
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I have seen quite a few pivot corners that are brown (totally dead) in central Nebraska. Happily my Dad got anywhere from 1.15"-3" of rain on his fields last night so I hope very much that it wasn't too late for the dryland (but fear it was). This year is turning out to be brutal.
Corn has risen about $1/bu in the last week here. My Dad was thrilled when he contracted for $6/bu a few months ago but now he just hopes to be able to fill the contracts. He only contracts irrigated land so hopefully he is okay. If the corn crop is crap this year prepare for food to get very expensive. |
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My first year of gardening was 2011. The drought stunted my corn. I *thought* I was watering enough last year.
This year we are still suffering from a drought in my county. I was able to produce a good crop this year, but, without serious effort, irrigation pipes, gasoline engines... it would have been a loss. If I was trying to produce corn in a post-zombie-collapse-dollar world, it would have been a loss. TRG |
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The corn was curling last week and this week it is turning brown in the un irragated fields in northwest IN. I hope they all paid on the crop insurance. I have not seen a crop north of I-30 without irrigation that looked like it will produce. But what kind of farmer am I......... I'm a lead farmer mutha....... |
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In the last 5 days I've driven from NE IL to NW IL to NW WI to NC WI and back to NE IL. Generally speaking most of the corn looked stressed to some extent, and some looked very stressed, but I didn't see any turning brown yet. I understand that many points farther south are at or near total loss at this point. Starting to hear stories of farmers plowing the crops under, but don't know if that is truly widespread yet. From what I've seen driving around, even the corn that still looks pretty good just isn't tasselling or putting on any ears. I think it's using what moisture it's getting just to stay alive, and doesn't have enough vitality to reproduce. Might not be Farmageddon, but it ain't a pretty picture. |
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In the last 5 days I've driven from NE IL to NW IL to NW WI to NC WI and back to NE IL. Generally speaking most of the corn looked stressed to some extent, and some looked very stressed, but I didn't see any turning brown yet. I understand that many points farther south are at or near total loss at this point. Starting to hear stories of farmers plowing the crops under, but don't know if that is truly widespread yet. From what I've seen driving around, even the corn that still looks pretty good just isn't tasselling or putting on any ears. I think it's using what moisture it's getting just to stay alive, and doesn't have enough vitality to reproduce. Might not be Farmageddon, but it ain't a pretty picture. The tassels, ears and silks are out here in SW Iowa, but without some rain, the ears arem't gonna polinate worth a tinker's damn. |
| A lot of corn in central kansas won't produce, were still short over 6 inches for the year, not even factoring in the excessive temps. I've had alot of soybeans going backwards and dying on hillsides. Still time for the living soybeans if we'd get rain but still no rain in sight. Our fall crops were pretty much a failure last year and I'd be surprised if this year turns out different. Probably be alot of wheat planted for next year, at least we were able to produce that despite of the drought. |
| The grocery store I work at has been getting in nothing but corn from California which has been decent but I have yet to see it go on sale like it did in years past like buy one get one free or 10 ears for a dollar, etc. I spend a good portion of my day making it look presentable. The husks have been pretty ratty looking and bugs have for sure been an issue from what I see coming in. |
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The grocery store I work at has been getting in nothing but corn from California which has been decent but I have yet to see it go on sale like it did in years past like buy one get one free or 10 ears for a dollar, etc. I spend a good portion of my day making it look presentable. The husks have been pretty ratty looking and bugs have for sure been an issue from what I see coming in. It's not really the commercial sweet corn that is the problem, it's the massive amount of field corn that is currently withering in the field all across the midsection of the country. |
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Quoted: I have some friends that work on farms in Wisconsin. They are telling me the corn crop for 2012 is going to be abysmal becaue of this heat wave. That they have whole fields that didnt produce any corn. The tassles are already out with no corn having been produced. They said the same was true in the other states near them. Anyone else hear this? It's no joke. In my AO almost every single corn field looks like that. Tassels out and no corn. Some fields, the corn has just wilted and some of the plants are beginning to fall over. We have not had a decent rainfall since the middle of April. Since then, we maybe have had 0.20" of rain. Was talking with my Dad today. He said, in all his life he has personally never seen the corn crop around here look like this, ever. If you want corn for next year. I would've suggested buying it about a month or more ago, and buying as much as you can get your hands on.
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Pretty good article on it at accuweather.com:
Corn Belt Disaster in Wake of Record Heat Wave |
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In Kenya, corn (or, as they call it, maize) is a fairly recent thing. It came with the Europeans and largely replaced more drought-resistant crops like millet, grain sorghum, and teff (in Ethiopia). The reason corn stuck-around there in East Africa was twofold: people liked the taste more than the older grains and there was a better market for corn since it was exportable or at least could be sold at the next village down the road. Those of you guys with failing corn crops in your gardens and fields might consider some of these older, tougher grains. There are also some more-drought resistant varieties of corn out there–– particularly the field or dent corns (read: unsweet open-pollinated corn) from the Southwest. Amaranth might be of interest, too. It produces a grain with good protein content and also has edible greens. If you're used to the taste of corn, all of these will require some getting used to. |
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In Kenya, corn (or, as they call it, maize) is a fairly recent thing. It came with the Europeans and largely replaced more drought-resistant crops like millet, grain sorghum, and teff (in Ethiopia). The reason corn stuck-around there in East Africa was twofold: people liked the taste more than the older grains and there was a better market for corn since it was exportable or at least could be sold at the next village down the road. Those of you guys with failing corn crops in your gardens and fields might consider some of these older, tougher grains. There are also some more-drought resistant varieties of corn out there–– particularly the field or dent corns (read: unsweet open-pollinated corn) from the Southwest. Amaranth might be of interest, too. It produces a grain with good protein content and also has edible greens. If you're used to the taste of corn, all of these will require some getting used to. I am going to go with a dent next year. Planted 'indian' corn for Fall. We'll see how it does in July and August here in Texas. TRG |
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particularly the field or dent corns (read: unsweet open-pollinated corn) from the Southwest. Is that one of the types the Aztecs used? Doesn't it need to be cooked with some wood ash (or lime) so people get the full nutrional benefits? (cue the 'Good Eats' guy's episode on Tortillas). This article covers what the covered: Nixtamalization of Corn |
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particularly the field or dent corns (read: unsweet open-pollinated corn) from the Southwest. Is that one of the types the Aztecs used? Doesn't it need to be cooked with some wood ash (or lime) so people get the full nutrional benefits? (cue the 'Good Eats' guy's episode on Tortillas). This article covers what the covered: Nixtamalization of Corn Field corn is what we feed live stock. |
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It's bad here too. No measurable rainfall since late May, and counting. Leaves on corn are rolled up like cigars, but not much yellow yet. Only about6 20-25% have tasseled just from my observation. I think another couple of weeks w/o rain and it'll move from bad to disaster... South of Indy is pretty bad, I passed multiple fields where they chopped it for sileage and left several rows standing across the field for when the insurance adjuster comes. You can already see "it" in the markets. Beans at $16/bushel and corn getting up close to double-digits. Current predictions have food prices rising 15% percent from the drought alone, that doesn't factor in outside factors like inflation etc. |
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particularly the field or dent corns (read: unsweet open-pollinated corn) from the Southwest. Is that one of the types the Aztecs used? Doesn't it need to be cooked with some wood ash (or lime) so people get the full nutrional benefits? (cue the 'Good Eats' guy's episode on Tortillas). This article covers what the covered: Nixtamalization of Corn Field corn is what we feed live stock. These days. But I'm asking if our feed stock is what the locals used to eat. |
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particularly the field or dent corns (read: unsweet open-pollinated corn) from the Southwest. Is that one of the types the Aztecs used? Doesn't it need to be cooked with some wood ash (or lime) so people get the full nutrional benefits? (cue the 'Good Eats' guy's episode on Tortillas). This article covers what the covered: Nixtamalization of Corn Field corn is what we feed live stock. These days. But I'm asking if our feed stock is what the locals used to eat. The highest grade of field corn gets used to make stuff like Corn Flakes, Tortillas, ect, ect. And I imagine that the Aztecs used some sort of corn, what it was, I don't know. I know that they bred corn from sort of grass into Maize (the ancestor of corn), but I don't know if the Indians bred it into what we now know as corn or if that was a Whire Man thing. |
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Ya wanna know how bad this draught is ? Upstate NY is bone dry. My grass is completely dead, apple crops will be the worst this fall in decades, and it is NEVER dry in upstate NY. When NY is dry, you know... It's BAD. +1... The wife has been watering the gardens every single day! |
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particularly the field or dent corns (read: unsweet open-pollinated corn) from the Southwest. Is that one of the types the Aztecs used? Doesn't it need to be cooked with some wood ash (or lime) so people get the full nutrional benefits? (cue the 'Good Eats' guy's episode on Tortillas). This article covers what the covered: Nixtamalization of Corn Correct. It's what you'd make a flour or meal out of. In Mexico and Central America, the corn tortillas are made with it. In East Africa, the staple food called ugali is made with it. Ugali is like a thick white grits made with white field corn. It's not bad, but you'll really want some gravy, greens, meat, etc. to go with it. Interesting that the article you linked mentions pellagra. I've seen many people showing signs of pellagra in Kenya. Adding a little bit of base (alkali from ash or lime) liberates both niacin and lysine. Adding beans to the diet helps even more. You can find some heirloom seed varieties traced back to various tribes. There's at least one Hopi corn variety out there that's considered especially drought-tolerant. |
| thankfully Minnesota doesn't seem to be as bad off as surrounding states. its been raining like a mofo here the last 1.5 months or so. damn near every field of corn i've seen the past couple of weeks, the corn has been probably 5+ feet tall. a couple of the corners of irrigated fields have the curled leaves, but its been hotter than hell the last 2 weeks or so. |
| Don't grow corn here but within the past week we we received the first small amount of rain in the past two years. We raise cattle (as do those in Texas) - we have cut our heard by half as have most others (due to lack of feed) and looking to cut more. Many in Texas are now out of the business completely. I have always believed that we are only one (maybe two) bad growing seasons from disaster - world wide given the stress of (over?) large populations. |
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Quoted: Quoted: It's bad here too. No measurable rainfall since late May, and counting. Leaves on corn are rolled up like cigars, but not much yellow yet. Only about6 20-25% have tasseled just from my observation. I think another couple of weeks w/o rain and it'll move from bad to disaster... South of Indy is pretty bad, I passed multiple fields where they chopped it for sileage and left several rows standing across the field for when the insurance adjuster comes. You can already see "it" in the markets. Beans at $16/bushel and corn getting up close to double-digits. Current predictions have food prices rising 15% percent from the drought alone, that doesn't factor in outside factors like inflation etc. Relief in sight, for some of us anyway. May be too late for a lot of the corn I've seen, tho. This is the cumulative rainfall forecast thru Sunday:  |
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I'm not a big rancher or anything, but we do raise a few steers here every year. Buy them at around 500lb, put them on sweet irrigated grass for 3 months, then on sweet molasses cob grain.Butcher at about 1100. We've been buying the grain from the same source for 6-7 years, and got the call yesterday that they are not going to be able to hold the price after September 1st, so we are going to buy all we need for the rest of the season and store it in the barn on August 15th.
I am just thankful he called. This could get to be a expensive deal for all of us. |
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Is it the ethanol corn? If it is,  fuck yeah let it burn for all i care.Ethanol corn? Corn that gets used for ethanol is just field corn. There is no "ethanol corn", it's just corn, gets used for anything from ethanol, to industrial products like plastics, sweeteners and animal feed. A little (usually specially grown) goes into human consumption products like corn chips. Sweet corn for corn on the cob and packaged products are typically grown with other vegetable products in those growing regions, except for folks who grow a little for local sale. Ethanol fuels are for another debate, there will be plenty of problems far beyond ethanol if there is a widespread corn crop failure 
Enjoy your steak and beef products now, chicken too, you don't want to know how much they will cost next year if the corn crop disintegrates as seems almost certain. |
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Is it the ethanol corn? If it is, fuck yeah let it burn for all i care.Ethanol corn? Corn that gets used for ethanol is just field corn. There is no "ethanol corn", it's just corn, gets used for anything from ethanol, to industrial products like plastics, sweeteners and animal feed. A little (usually specially grown) goes into human consumption products like corn chips. Ethanol fuels are for another debate, there will be plenty of problems far beyond ethanol if there is a widespread corn crop failure That was my point....... And there isn't specially grown field corn for human consumption. It all gets graded at the grain elevator. The highest grade is suitable for human consumption. |