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Irrigation vital to late season crop development in drought areas

Timely rains across parts of the Western Corn Belt have been spotty and some Nebraska farmers say irrigation is the only thing keeping crops alive.

Matt Bailey says 90 percent of his crops are irrigated near Schuyler in the east central portion of the state. “Dryland is not good.  A lot is hanging on.  We were counting on a rain today, but I don’t think that happened. Under the pivots with a good well, they look decent.

North-Central Nebraska farmer Gib Kelley of Paige says dryland corn is being chopped for silage, but irrigated corn is in decent shape. “Ears are filling out very well.  There’s are a lot of pods.  Pod count is very high. Plenty tall.”

He tells Brownfield the O’Neil area has received less than a quarter of an inch of rain in the last month, but some crops have suffered storm damage.

Golden Harvest Agronomist Jamie Kathol tells Brownfield he’s concerned that crops in drought areas won’t get across the finish line if farmers stop watering too soon. “To get that corn to the black layer, we’re looking at middle of September and soybeans will be the middle to the third week of September once they start turning.” 

They spoke with Brownfield at a Golden Harvest Field Day near York.