This week's widespread thunderstorms might have come just in time as field crops in the Tri-State are struggle during the summer of 2020.
With corn currently at the pollination stage, moisture is needed. Some damage already has been done to crops in the area after a cool spring and a dry, hot summer.
“It's not a lost cause, but we're definitely going to see yields significantly impacted,” said Jeff Semler, educator with the University of Maryland Extension in Washington County.
“It's going to be a significant impact when it comes to most of our crops outside of the things that are irrigated.”
Corn gets shorted
“Things are looking pretty bad,” Mike Forsythe said as he surveyed a cornfield Wednesday afternoon on his Downsville Pike farm where a storm was brewing to the west.
“Hopefully, we're going to get more rain this afternoon. That's what we're hoping for anyway.”
Forsythe, who milks cows and operates an orchard on Linden Hall Farm, already has seen his peach crop cut by 50% to 60% by early frost. He raises the corn, soybeans and hay he feeds to the animals. Those field crops also are suffering.
“The corn is in very bad shape,” Forsythe said. “The yield is going to be at least 60% for fodder. I don't know what's going to happen with the grain because it's just now pollinating and you like to have some moisture when that's happening. That's kind of up in the air right now.”
Semler agreed this is a critical time of the growing season, especially for corn.
“The corn is starting to tassel and we need rain during pollination for what we can get ear fill. We're concerned about that,” Semler said. “Rain would pollinate it better and produce better ears.
“We're probably looking at a reduction in crop yield of close to 50% just because of the early impact of the drought on ear size. It's really not a problem of how much rain we get. It's when we get it. It will really depend on what kind of moisture we get while the corn is pollinating.”
Semler believes the smaller ears will mean at least a loss of a third of the crop.
“If we get pollination, we'll have good kernels of a nice size," he said. The ears won't be as long, so there won't be as many kernels per ear of plant. It would be nice for ear fill, for sure. We'll get the kernels and nice straight lines of yellow corn on the cob. But the ears won't be nearly as long.”
The height of the corn widely varies throughout the county.
“Depending on when the person got the corn planted, you can see a marked difference in the height of the corn,” Semler said.
“How that impacts production will depend on what the farmer wants to do with it. If he's going to shell it, it won't matter as much if the corn isn't as tall. But if you are chopping it for corn silage for dairy cows or meat cows, they will need to be more acres to fill the silo than what normally would take.”
Also in the fields
Lots of soybeans also are grown in Washington County. Semler said that crop is suffering under the conditions and also needs pollination for pod fill.
Hay, including alfalfa, is another top crop locally that needs moisture, he said.
“Hay yields are way down because of the lack of moisture,” he said. “We had some decent early yields, but a second cutting of grass hay is almost going to be nonexistent.
“Alfalfa cuttings are yielding two-thirds of what we expect normally. We're not finished yet. We may be down to half as we go through the season.”
Semler said that means a double whammy for dairy or beef farmers who raise crops to feed their animals
“We've got a reduced hay crop, so reduced yields,” he said. “And we're going to have to feed our hay earlier in the season.
“We may have to start feeding our winter hay stock earlier. That will have an impact as well because now, we have farmers who are going to be short on forage, so they will have to reduce numbers or buy forage from somewhere.”
Forsythe reported a strong straw crop, but a lower-than-expected barley yield.
Vegetable growers are seeing the good and the bad of the weather in 2020.
Most commercial vegetable growers in Washington County are irrigating, but the cool spring made it a rough start.
“Planting when it was cold and damp delayed the sweet corn,” Semler said. “That's why the price of sweet corn is up, because of the scarcity. We'll eventually see an uptick in the availability of sweet corn.
“Heat stalls some things and heat will drive certain vegetables. The soil temperature really impacts root activity. When you can put water on and the nights are cooler in the 70s or so, the plant really responds to that.”
Forsythe said some of the smaller produce didn't come up because of the early cold.
“You had to plant and replant,” he said. “Some things were replants a third time to get going.”
On the trees
A cold spring has been as much of a problem as the dry, hot summer in the orchards.
“We lost 50% to 60% of the peaches to the frost,” Forsythe said. “We're going to have some anyway, but the early varieties pretty much got wiped out. Local peaches are very scarce this year.”
Semler said the late cold snaps at the end of April and into May were widespread.
“Any stone fruit — nectarines, apricots and plums — most orchards are saying those were a complete loss,” he said. “Cherries had some reduction in yield.
"Peaches I've heard anywhere from a half a crop to two-thirds of a crop. I've also heard that depended how cold it got and where the trees were, they had a nearly complete crop loss.”
Semler said apples probably are going to be OK.
“Orchards with apple trees that are mature and rooted, 10 years plus, they are finding moisture," he said. "We're probably going to see a reduction in size of the apple, but as far as yield, that also impacts bushels. The bushel yield is probably going to be down a bit. It won't necessarily mean the apples aren't going to be good, but will just be smaller.”
Forsythe confirmed some apples are OK and some are not.
“Varieties that were pollinating early are pretty much wiped out,” he said.
Summer nights
Semler said corn is affected negatively more by the lack of moisture than high temperatures. When the nights don't cool down, it's hard on everything.
“When it's 90 or 95 degrees in the daytime and gets down to 70 or 75 at night, we, as a species and as a planet, can survive OK. When its 99 or 100 in the daytime and doesn't get below 85 at night, that's hard on everybody's system,” Semler said. “Fortunately, we humans can reside in air conditioning and we can walk to the spigot and get a drink of water.
“Even our cows that can have as much water as they want still suffer from heat. You have the impact on dairy cows giving less milk. You have the impact on those beef calves out in the field. Even though mom gives them milk, they're not growing as fast because it's just plain hot. They want to just lay around.”
Summer 2020 conditions have come in contrast to recent years.
“We've not been as dry as this year in a good while,” said Semler. “(In) 2018, we enjoyed a little more moisture than we needed. Last year, we had good moisture at the right times and over the year did OK.
“This year, we looked like we were starting out like gangbusters and then the clouds just went away or they don't leave any rain if they passed over us.”
Hope remains
June rainfall in Hagerstown was well below normal, according to Hagerstown weather observer Greg Keefer's website. By mid-July, precipitation continued to lag behind the average.
Semler stops short of using the word drought, but admitted farmers now are coveting the widely scattered thunderstorms and making plans for a second crop for additional forage.
“According to the U.S. drought monitor, we're abnormally dry, but not in even a moderate drought yet,” Semler said. “We're working against a season that has ends. We were shorted on the front end with the coolness, and we'll probably get shorted on the back end because of the dry weather.
“With a good two-day rain, that would probably turn everything around. That would mitigate some of the issues, but it's still not a magic wand. There still may be some things that may be affected in the extreme heat. It's not a lost cause, but we're definitely going to see yields significantly impacted outside of the things that are irrigated.”
It is a particularly tough year for the rain to stop for farmers on top of the supply chain issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down schools and restaurants.
“It's going to be a very challenging year,” Forsythe said. “The weather is probably going to be a bigger issue than the virus.
“I've been reading some of the long-range forecasts, and they are saying we could have a year or two of some very dry weather coming.”
Semler is hoping at least the moisture brought by this past week's thunderstorms becomes more widespread.
“We need more, but it will definitely help some,” he said. “Hopefully, it'll make a big difference.”
Forsythe also remains hopeful.
“Things are still salvageable,” he said. “We could still get pretty decent crops with at least some timely rains.
“Timing has about as much to do with it as the amount.”
July 26, 2020 at 04:30AM
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/news/local/farmers-deal-with-hot-dry-summer/article_ae25e3ab-4cc6-5f89-9881-b6cce436084e.html
Farmers deal with hot, dry summer - Herald-Mail Media
https://news.google.com/search?q=dry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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