Crop conditions on your acre

Crop conditions on your acre.
    One major goal of this blog is to communicate with the non farmer participant of our Foods Resource Bank Growing Project.  Most of our urban churches ask their members to pledge support of an acre which is later harvested and that income then is used to aid hunger projects worldwide.  This is then a report on your acre.
    As I inspect my fields the first observation is how dry the soil is and how plants are reacting to the heat.  The plant is at the stage of development that determines the number of rows each ear will have, stresses can lower that number from 18 down to 16.  The second observation is insect feeding at the base of the plant that has lowered the number of plants per acre.  The third is that all of the windy days have taken a toll on the brace roots of some plants leaving them "floppy corn".  The forth is in some fields the wind has delayed weed control measures and weeds are competing for the moisture putting more stress on the crop.  You can view a map of Drought Conditions here: showing most of Illinois and Iowa abnormally dry.  The total liquid accumulation since January 1st is now 10.6" compared to an average of 17.27"    http://www.drought.gov/portal/server.pt/community/drought_gov/202;jsessionid=BF10B25C83E1E440E8A255E64418851D
   As my last post covered expectations of a perfect year that seldom happens.  Those observations in the field factor into the final expectations of harvest, as of today those have only a slightly negative impact.  They have taken some grain from the total but the most important time is over a month away.  That is why I will continue to monitor the drought map.  Because such a large area is dry already there is little evaporation from the surface to build the next rain.  Also because so many areas need the rain it is likely that not every farmer will get that timely rain. I will keep that on the updates.
   Soybean fields have had some germination problems with lack of soil moisture also.  It looks like more acres were planted than the original estimate.  The fall price quotes for soybeans increased enough to encourage producers to include more beans and less corn.  A substantial change was on March 30, 2012 and I will take an informal survey to see if and decisions were changed at that late of a date.
   Wheat harvest has begun west and south but is several weeks away here.  The harvest is beginning early and seems very good.  Wheat needs the warm dryer weather to fill the grain and limit the plant health problems.  Too bad that the corn crop needs rain at that same time. The weather will also have to change to allow for second crop beans planted after wheat to sprout and make a crop.
   That covers your acre for now.  Yields can still be very good, demand can grow, and we will still be the best option to help feed the world.
                                                                             Serving together,  Dean Lundeen