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Indiana farmer says warm, dry conditions speeding up crop maturity

Central Indiana farmer Jim Douglas says harvest is just getting started in his part of the state. “You know, I see a sprinkle of combines in the field here,” he says. “We have not harvested anything yet. But I’m planning on getting in the field maybe this afternoon.”

He tells Brownfield the crop has been maturing faster than normal. “The corn is drying down rapidly in the field,” he says.  “So that’ll make harvest go very well and save the producers a lot of money on drying cost.”

Douglas says overall the crop looks good, but the last month has been warm and dry. “Most of Indiana has had hardly any rainfall,” he says.  “Think about seed size on the soybeans and corn, which is a factor in yield. So it will probably knock a little bit off the yield, but there’s still good crops.”

According to the latest crop progress and conditions report from the USDA, 5 percent of Indiana’s corn crop has been harvested, and 6 percent of soybeans have been harvested.