News

Cool down brings pros and cons to corn crop

An agronomist with Bayer says this week’s forecasted cool down across much of the Midwest should benefit the corn crop.

Lance Tarochione, who’s based in west central Illinois, says it’s much-needed relief.

“If we want to make this crop all that it can be, we need to slow it down.”  He says, “We are flying through grain fill way too fast.  A long, slow grain fill period, which is what you get when it’s cool, is very helpful to yield.”

However, he tells Brownfield that cooler temperatures also favor the development of tar spot.

“It’s worse every week than it was the week before, but it’s doing it more slowly than we anticipated.”  He says, “Ideally, it would prefer it to be a little cool, and if it’s the heat that’s been slowing it down, you know the heat’s going to be gone. And so, is that going to let it speed up and become more of an issue?”

Tarochione says the corn crop remains vulnerable to disease for the next several weeks, so farmers should continue scouting on a regular basis.

AUDIO: Lance Tarochione – Dekalb /Asgrow agronomist