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Texas Agriculture Archive

April 4, 2003

Late Corn, Good Progress
Wet weather's kept some from the fields...but hardly
anyone's complaining...

By Lana Robinson
Field Editor

An overly wet spring delayed plantings in many of the corn-producing regions of the state—some more than others. But with the exception of the Coastal Bend, where waterlogged fields as the planting window closed for corn caused many growers to switch to sorghum, much of the state's crop is in the ground, and off to a good start.

On March 25, Bobby Aguilar, county Farm Bureau agricultural coordinator in the Rio Grande Valley, reported that four inches of rain had fallen in Mercedes, March 15, on the first day of the Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show.

"We've had a few little showers since, and that's good. The majority of our corn, cotton, and milo is already in the ground. We had no delayed plantings. Some irrigated early and others are not planning to irrigate. If it comes out hot and dry and we have to irrigate, water will be an issue. Hopefully, we'll get some timely rains and cool nights for our corn crop."

The 2003 corn planting season did not go smoothly for parts of South Texas and the Coastal Bend region, according to the Texas Cooperative Extension. In early March, the majority of farmers from the upper and lower Gulf Coast, where the corn planting window is a period between Feb. 1 and March 10, had not completed fertilizing their fields.

"Corn production was initially expected to be down some 5 to 10 percent this year," said Dr. Steve Livingston, Extension agronomist. "Now that planting dates are being delayed because of wet weather and currently cold soils, corn production may be reduced even more."

Livingston reported that some farmers in the Coastal Bend had "returned" the seed corn they ordered, exchanging it for sorghum seed.

"Locally, we held a few meetings at the producer level in early March to offer suggestions on what maturity groups of sorghum to plant and farmers' options for getting the best yields in the event conditions remained wet in the field," Livingston said.

On March 24, Scott Ordner of Robstown was halfway done planting sorghum. He indicated that less than a quarter of the acres in Nueces County are traditionally planted to corn, and that the inclement weather would probably scale it back more this season.

"If we could defeat aflatoxin, or come up with some corn varieties with more heat tolerance, we'd probably plant more. Most of the corn production is in the western part of the county, back toward Corpus. I'd venture to say that's mainly because of an iron chlorosis problem, which hurts sorghum," he said.

Ordner farms 4,200 acres, half sorghum and half in cotton.

"We're a week or two weeks behind schedule for sorghum. We normally plant grain on Valentine's Day and cotton the first part of March. The last weekend shower kept us out for a couple of days. Our area is probably half planted and we should be done by the end of the week. We have good soil moisture. Except for a few delays, we should have a heck of a good start," he said.

Progressing up the state and slightly west, Thomas Boehme of Castroville, Texas Farm Bureau District 10 director, said growers in his region got their corn and milo planted a little early. Boehme's operation is broken into 180 acres of corn, 150 acres of cotton and 50 acres of coastal bermuda hay.

"We've had a lot of rain, two inches to 5/10ths, depending on where you are. They had some pretty good rains around the Hondo area, two to three inches, which slowed up the cotton planting. Our wheat looks good. There's been some spraying for rust, but overall, our season is going pretty well," Boehme reported from Washington, D.C., March 25, where he had traveled as part of the organization's National Affairs group.

Central Texas growers hopeful

Traditionally, in Central Texas, farmers prefer to plant corn by March 15, but with good soil moisture, may be tempted to plant up to early April. Still, conventional wisdom says planting prior to March 15 reduces the likelihood of heat stress during the critical development stage of the crop, which may also contribute to aflatoxin problems.

In Waco, Vince Neuhaus, general manager of Brazos Valley Equipment Co. and himself a farmer, said corn planting is back on track after lots of rain in Central Texas.

"I think we're really, by and large, about done," Neuhaus reported March 25. "Most farmers have around 90 percent of their crop in. There are a few that lack more, east of here, but quite a few are finished. A lot have 30 or 40 acres that are too wet. They'll have to go back and spot plant, but we're a lot farther ahead than we thought we'd be. We were thinking we might be planting corn in April, but wham bam, and the Good Lord shined on us with a couple of dry fronts that only produced small showers. We're more relaxed now, and not as stressed out as we were a week or so ago. When you get corn in the ground, see it coming up, see it grow, it's an awful good feeling.

According to Dr. Cloyce Coffman, Texas Cooperative Extension agronomist, data collected from studies at the Stiles Farm in Thrall show yields can be expected to dip 30-40 percent below normal when planting after April 1 and yields generally begin to dip off when planting after March 20. "It is anybody's call what the weather patterns will do to you," Coffman said.

Still, Neuhaus, who is actively involved in an initiative to establish an ethanol plant in Central Texas, prays for a bumper crop.

"When you have commodity prices at below $2 a bushel for corn, the only way to raise income is to get more yield per acre. We used to just dream about a 100 bushel corn crop. Now, if we don't get that, we think it's an off year. In 1980, I got $3.07 for corn and $4.10 for wheat. I sold both crops for 40 to 80 cents a bushel less than last year. Combines and tractors cost twice as much, so we have to make 90 to 100 bushels to make it pencil out. Our exports are down so bad, the only silver lining, they tell me, is that we have 68 ethanol plants across the country that are taking corn we were exporting. Hopefully, we'll get one going here, if the study shows it's feasible," he said.

'Touch and go' in North Texas

The same day, the Texas Cooperative Extension reported that more than half of the North Texas corn crop had been planted, with some shoots already emerging. Speaking from his tractor cab, March 24, District 4 State Director Joe Kapavik, who farms near Lancaster, in Dallas County, said, "I've been trying to finish planting corn since March 11. We were stopped three times because of rain. Each time, the rains stopped us for about two or three days. It didn't take but 3/10ths to stop you. We had to dry our fields out with a field cultivator before we could plant. Otherwise, your equipment gets balled up with mud. That slowed us down by about half. This year has been touch and go."

Kapavik is looking to harvest 527 acres, or slightly more.

"South of me, around Waxahachie, some are barely started and some have not planted a lot, as of a couple days ago. I finished in February, the eleventh or twelfth, last year. If the rain misses me tomorrow, I should be done," said Kapavik. "We're about two weeks behind, but who's to say. That's what the calendar says, but that doesn't mean the season's that far along. We'll know in August."