With the extensive drought from California to Ohio and corn prices soaring to over $8 a bushel, Trent is one of thousands of farmers who very seriously want rain. Trent tries to look for positive things to offset the pervasive gloom he hears from older farm operators. He says, ” The fields that are getting it [rain] keep getting it and the ones that don’t, don’t.”
In some fields Trent sees yield potential of 150-bushel-per-acre corn in one end of the field and 50-bushel corn in the other end. The drought damage seems to be worse east and west of the Brandenburg Farms operating area, and especially worse south of it. Crop insurance coverage will be better in farms that have been farmed a while with better historic yield records. Trent looks for an average corn yield of around 130 bushels per acre, down substantially from the “normal” year.
Soybeans are growing slowly and will benefit from August rains to help pod set and fill. Unfortunately long-range forecasts predict the extreme dry weather to continue through October. Trent expects much higher prices at the grocery store on meat and poultry because of the record prices of feed made from corn and soybeans. The high prices will also increase the cost of seed for next year’s crop, Trent predicts.