Missouri farmers navigate dry weather, delayed harvest
ST. LOUIS – It’s one of the most important times of the year for area farmers and after a tough spring we checked in to see how the harvest season is progressing and what farmers are specifically looking for when it comes to the weather.
Earlier this summer, Jim Boerding’s green fields were filled as stalks sprouted in prime growing conditions.
“It seemed like we had irrigation, natural irrigation all year until the end of July,” he said. “And we weren't getting real big rains. You know, we did have a couple that caused some problems with the water pooling in places which hurts your yields or have to replant. But other than that, we had nice little rains, which was kind of nice on one point.”
But once Mother Nature turned that natural irrigation off, the dry weather had a quick effect.
“Your plant didn't put root down to get to moisture because it was always given to it,” Boerding said. “And now we're in a dry spell and it hurt a little quicker than normal because of the roots not being deep.”
The frustrating spring planting season was a practice of patience.
“I know when they were talking about that for rain at Easter, I was wanting to hold off on plant and wait ‘til after rain and my dad was like, ‘Got to get going, you got to get going.’ But you have to think about the long run," Boerding said.
"I don't want to do things twice, but then you have to think about what's going to get us the best yield, because that's why I do this. So, you got to have a lot of patience and a lot of faith and we're relying on Mother Nature, too."
Corn was planted a month behind schedule, so patience is still prevalent with the delayed harvest.
“It's still got too much moisture for us. This here is a longer season corn, so it's not going to dry down as good,” Boerding said. “But all our earlier season corn, we planted later. So, that's not ready either. So, we're just kind of checking things out, make sure the equipment's running good.”
While the recent dry weather is okay for harvesting, farmers would appreciate a little moisture especially for their soybean crops.
“So, we're getting to the point where we're going to want a dry stretch. But right now, a rain could help the soybeans. We just don't want a big rain,” Boerding said.
While it’s too early to tell for corn yields, they predict things will be a bit lower than previous years.
“I would say they're down from last couple of years. We've had really good yields last year. You can see the yield monitor bounce down to 162,” he said. “Yeah, it gets up and up or two hundreds, but the average is what you're looking at and we'll know more when we get through this field.
“You got your low spots in the field, you got your high yielding spots in the field. Just depends on where that water pulled up when those big rains. And you can really see that on the yield monitor. So where the water pooled yields are down.”
Yields are measured in bushels per acre. The higher the number, the better it is. And while it’s too soon to tell average yields this year, they’ve certainly seen much worse.
"...We've seen worse and you take what you get,” Boerding said.
As Mother Nature finds ways to make things interesting year-to-year, Boerding said he wouldn't trade his life as a farmer for anything
“Just living their life, being a farmer. And it's a great way to raise your family and nothing's ever the same. It's always changing," he said. "That's, I would say, probably the biggest thing about it. You never know what to expect.”
