Published: January 02, 2009 09:04 am      

Crop season not over for Clinton County farmers

CLINTON — The crop season isn’t over until the trucks leave the farm headed to market.

That’s a common saying among Clinton County farmers, who still face a winter of making sure the grain in their bins holds its quality until they are ready to sell it.

After having used propane to dry the corn, much of which came out of the field with 19 or 20 percent moisture, down to 15 percent, farmers can’t walk away from the bin until spring.

Powerful fans still need to be used periodically to keep the corn from spoiling.

Meanwhile, weather and politics continue to add obstacles to local farmers.

For instance, on the afternoon of July 3, a local broker was paying $7.11 a bushel for last year’s corn which had been in storage. In December, the same broker was paying $2.76, minus a penalty for moisture more than 15 percent, for this year’s crop.

At year’s end, Iowa Farmer Today’s online MarketWatch said corn had rallied to a seven-week high of $4.12 in response to a combination of factors, including China’s announcement of plans to buy 4.5 million bushels.

Soybeans brought $16.07 at the high point, fell to $7.55 in December and then rallied to $9.55 in response to dry weather conditions in Brazil.

And so ends a roller coaster year that began with record breaking snowfalls in February, followed by thawing in March which had no place to go because the road ditches were full.

Then rain drenched the county in April, and in May another 4.94 inches of rain fell on already soggy fields. In western Clinton County, the Wapsipinicon River flooded fields and washed out roads.

There was nothing for farmers to do but wait and watch traditional planting dates come and go.

Pete Shaff, of rural Camanche, usually has all of his corn in the ground by the first week of May and the beans planted by the end of May.

This year it was June 2 when the last cornfield was planted. Then it rained 14 of the first 15 days in June. Finally, there was a dry spell and Shaff got the last of the beans planted on June 20.

Then it rained again on June 25, 26 and 27. And for only the sixth time in 50 years there were no 90-degree days in June to boost the crops along.

In July, with temperatures still below normal, Virgil Schmitt, Iowa State University extension crop specialist for Clinton County, said, “For all practical purposes we are looking at probably 50 percent of the yield we would have gotten” if weather conditions had been normal.

But by mid-September Schmitt was able to say, “Clinton County, in general, has some of the best looking crops I’ve seen. The only catch is you want the crop to be mature before the first killing frost.”

That time farmers got their wish and the killing frost held off until Oct. 28, giving most farmers time to complete the harvest with better than expected corn yields.