Published: October 26, 2009 08:59 am      

Area farmers worry about quality of crops

CLINTON — The United States Department of Agriculture has been predicting record high yields of corn and soybeans in Iowa this year. On Oct. 9 the USDA pegged the average corn yield at 164.2 bushels per acre — the highest average ever — and soybeans at 42.4 bushels per acre, the third highest in history.

And corn futures in Chicago closed above $4 a bushel last week, according to MarketWatchonline.

That’s the good news.

But in Clinton County, here’s the other side of the coin.

Repeated October rains, as farmers yearned to get in the fields, had totaled 3.79 inches by Sunday night, according to Jim Blaess, official observer for the U.S. Weather Service, compared to a normal of 2.71 for the entire month.

Meanwhile, grain quality issues are surfacing — low test weight and poor storability. Here are some observations and recommendations from Iowa State University Extension specialists Charles Hurburgh and Roger Elmore:

• A cool, long growing season has resulted in high yields, but also brought high grain moisture and low test weights. The low test weight is the result of more starch and lower protein in the kernels. That condition reduces field dry-down rates and results in increased drying costs.

• East of Interstate 35, corn ranges from the low 20s to mid-30s in moisture. Usually 15 percent moisture has been considered good for storage. But this year, because of the poor quality of the kernels, farmers say the corn should be dried to 13 percent.

• The specialists said the cost of drying corn this year is expected to be about five cents per point of moisture removed.

• With the number of favorable drying hours in the field much fewer after Oct. 20, they recommend farmers give attention to stalk health. If there is lodging, wetter corn may have to be harvested first, they said.

• There are reports in Clinton County of corn kernels sprouting on the ear as a result of a recent spell of warm temperatures.

• Field mold can also occur and can create toxin and feed value concerns.

• The market standard weight for a bushel of corn is 54 pounds. Higher test weights mean better kernels with a higher percentage of hard endosperm. Light weight corn will break more easily during drying and create more fines in storage.

A spokesman for a Clinton grain buyer told the Clinton Herald last week that soybeans were being brought in at 14 and 15 percent moisture.

He said they need to be 13 percent for storage.

“In a normal year our bean (business) would be done,” he added. No corn was being brought in yet, he said.