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Timely rains benefit crops

A central Indiana farmer says timely rains have helped his crops.

Jon Sparks grows corn and soybeans in Hancock County—just east of Indianapolis.

“I think it’s really going to help the late-season soybeans and help corn with ear fill,” he says. “For as dry as we were from the middle of June to the end of July, stuff really has held on and looks pretty good.”  

He says it likely won’t be a bumper crop.

“I think we’re going to see some problems when we get in the thinner ground in the corn and soybeans both, especially the earlier beans where it ran out of gas because of the dry weather,” he says. “But, I’m optimistic that we may still have an average crop.”

Sparks says limited pest and disease pressure is a silver lining to drier conditions.