News

Missouri corn, soybean crops vary with weather

Crops look good in areas where the weather is conducive, but a Missouri agronomist says there are areas damaged by hot, dry weather. Standing in a field of tall corn, Jason Mefford uses caution to describe the condition of Missouri’s corn and soybean crop.

“Well, it depends on where you’re at,” Mefford, an agronomist for the Missouri farm supply cooperative MFA, told Brownfield Ag News. 

The western part of Missouri along I-70 has good corn and soybeans, according to Mefford.

Around Concordia, Lexington, up in here, they’ve gotten a lot of good rains,” said Mefford. “The crops look really good, [but] you start to go south from here and the crops suffered a little bit more from the heat and dry weather we had.”

For some areas of Missouri, a break in the hot weather provided the needed window for corn pollination. Mefford keeps his fingers crossed for good grain fill.

“In our world,” said Mefford, “if we could stay in the 80s with moisture we’re probably looking at at least 200 bushel corn in most areas.”

For those areas that already have a promising crop, “they’ve had a pretty good season so far,” he said, “I would expect things to do very well.”