Less than 40 percent of the corn crop this year is in good to excellent condition, according to the weekly Indiana Crop and Weather Report for the week ending Aug. 21. Most of the corn, 37 percent, is in fair condition. Thirty-eight percent of the soybean crop is in good condition. This is in contrast to last year, in which 59 percent of corn was in the good to excellent condition.
According to the report, scattered rains brought some relief to a few areas of the state, but it wasn’t enough to stop the crop conditions from continuing to decline. A lot of corn was planted late, causing some of the crops to mature later than expected. This could be problematic, as these late crops need ideal weather conditions in order to mature properly.
However, even with the late planting, the crop conditions are as good as can be expected. The weather has been relatively nice for growing conditions, but July was a dry month for Indianapolis, with about a week of dryness locally. Starke County and the surrounding area is doing better than the state average, and as long as the weather remains agreeable, the seed corn harvest is expected to start within a few weeks, with the other crops to be harvested later.
