Rain may affect this year’s corn crops

A friend of mine posted on Facebook that if April showers bring May flowers, look out.

So far he has been wrong since it has been May showers too.

The Carroll County Mesonet station reported 12.38 inches of rain for April, which is about 10 inches more than we received a year ago. We are already at more than 3 inches for May. I have been down to Henderson where the river was higher and there is a lot of land flooded down that way and the radio was reporting that the entire town of Smithland was being evacuated. As bad as it is here, someone else has it worse.

I participated in a conference call on Monday in which we were talking about options for producers for planting corn and soybeans and when to make that call. After about May 15, producers will begin to lose about 1 percent per day of their corn yield. The model shows that on average and above average ground you can still plant corn through about June 6 and be dollars ahead when compared to planting soybeans. After May 20 it is recommended that we go with a 115 day corn.

Some of the agents on the call thought there might be some regional shortages of bean seed for producers choosing to change over from corn.

We are lucky that fertilizer and chemicals haven’t been applied so those are losses we don’t have to deal with.

One of the worst things we can do is to get on ground that is too heavy. Soil compaction will be a huge issue for us this year. It will be compounded if it turns dry after all this rain. The good thing is the water table should have been restored.

The final issue will be crop reporting and crop insurance. The other important factor that needs to be considered is preventive planting with crop insurance. The preventive planting date for corn in Kentucky is May 31. If producers are unable to get corn planted by this date (for legitimate reasons), they can choose not to plant and still get 60 percent of their crop insurance base guarantee.  However, corn can still be planted to June 25 for “late planting” crop insurance purposes. Plantings after May 31 lose 1 percent of the base guarantee for each day planted beyond this date. Given current corn profitability, and the increase in corn prices from the March insurance price guarantee, planting beyond the May 31 date will likely be an attractive option this year.  Producers need to talk with their crop insurance agent to assess their specific situation and options for this year.

Information on cleaning up after the flood

We have information about cleaning up after flooding if anyone needs it. Cleaning up after a flood is never easy but so far the silver lining has been limited flash flooding for those in our county.

FSA deadlines

The Carroll, Trimble, Gallatin FSA office has asked me to remind producers of the upcoming deadlines. May 31 is the deadline for reporting wheat on crop reports. June 1 is the deadline for signing the 2011 DCP contracts.  July 15 is the deadline for reporting the remainder of all crops. (Crops must be in the ground before they can be reported because we require the planting date).

The FSA office is located at 1800 Highland Avenue in Carrollton. The phone number is (502) 732-6931 or toll free 1-866-470-6779.

4-H Camp

Carroll County will be going to 4-H Camp July 18-21 this year. The camp fee this year is $165 and it must be paid before leaving for camp. I have been telling the kids that we will work with parents if they need to pay in installments for camp. Your space is not held unless you have paid in full. Applications are currently available at the Extension Office, 500 Floyd Drive. We are by the fairgrounds behind Walmart and Kroger.

Tim Hendrick is the Carroll County Extension agent for agriculture and natural resources. Call him at (502) 732-7030 or send e-mail to tim.hendrick@uky.edu.