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Dry weather, variable rain take toll on Michigan corn yield potential

A Michigan farmer says sporadic rain during the growing season has cut the top end off corn yield expectations.

Matt Frostic tells Brownfield, “In June, I think we had the highest rating corn conditions in the nation, and then we’ve went from that down to I think around 60 percent good to excellent.”

“The weather’s kind of taken its toll,” he says.

He says recent rains have helped recharge some soils, but there are pockets where crops are struggling.

State climatologist Jeff Andresen says storm systems moving across the Midwest through the Labor Day weekend are expected to bring a short-term cool-off, but, “Much of the lower 48 is still projected to be warmer than normal,” he says. “And then Michigan sort of right on the dividing line between an area of wetter than normal conditions to our west and drier than normal conditions to our south and east.”

The U.S. Drought Monitor slightly increased areas of moderate drought in the state in its Thursday report. More than half of Michigan is experiencing some form of dry conditions, mainly in the Upper Peninsula and across the central region.