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Farmers say crop conditions in Ohio vary

Crop conditions vary throughout the state of Ohio and three farmers say rain has been the determining factor.

Nathan Eckel, who farms in northwest Ohio, tells Brownfield his corn looks good, and beans are just getting past the “ugly duckling” phase.  “Our only real concerns in this area right now are just root structure in general because of the drought that we had,” he says.  “Those corn plants and those bean plants were really searching for water.”

Central Ohio farmer Bill Bayliss says recent rains have come at just the right time.  “The corn and beans are both behind what I would call a normal year due to the drought,” he says.  “But right now colors have come out and so far we’re disease free, but I think we got good potential.”

While Eckel and Bayliss have seen significant improvement in their crops, that’s not the case for Jeff Magyar who farms in the far northeast part of the state.  “The very last stuff to be planted, the second week of June, third week of June is struggling,” he says. “It finally got enough moisture to get out of the ground. Neighbor fields have two-foot-tall corn and four-inch-tall corn in the same field.”

He says the rains have been sporadic at best. “We’ve gotten 2 inches total two-tenths at a time,” he says.  “North of us a few miles, they’ve gotten 3 to 3 1/2 inches, and South of us they’re even drier, so it’s still needing water in our area.”

The farmers took part in Brownfield’s latest episode of Cab Conversations – a monthly check-in with Ohio farmers.