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Nebraska farmer says array of different weather events will impact yields

A Southwest Nebraska farmer says it’s not just drought that will have an impact on corn and soybean yields in his area.

Jan TenBensel tells Brownfield “It’s been quite a year for grain and I’m afraid we’re going to be off significantly on most of the fields, especially if they’re touched by hail. The last few weeks of heat and no rain has really hurt us out here.”

He says this will be the first crop that will be able to be harvested on farmland that was destroyed by wildfires in the spring of 2022.

And, TenBensel says, he’s not expecting much. “We had a no rain last year, and we started out with very little rain this year. It’s really been a struggle to get a good cover back on that ground and the infiltration of water has been the biggest problem on that burnt ground. It’s that’s a lot of fine particles.”

He says soil fertility isn’t as big of a concern because he hadn’t applied nitrogen before the blaze burned off residue.