News

Concerns over Kansas corn production grows

Southwest Kansas farmer Gary Millershaski says extreme heat and ongoing drought has decimated corn yields.

“The dryland corn is going to become cattle pasture. It wasn’t even good enough for silage.”

He tells Brownfield he estimates production could be down 40 percent in his state. “We’re only going to have about 5 to 10 percent of dryland corn cut for grain. It didn’t pollinate. It couldn’t handle multiple days over 110 degrees. On the sandier soils even the sprinklers couldn’t keep up.”

The USDA says 29 percent of corn has been harvested, and 42 percent is rated good-to-excellent. Soybeans are 1percent harvested and 39 percent are rated good-to-excellent.