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Too much of a good thing? Rainfall creating harvest challenges for Indiana farmers

A central Indiana farmer says consistent rainfall throughout the growing season is starting to impact crop yields.

Chris Cherry tells Brownfield, “There’s just a lot of disease in the corn. The stalks have big ears and the shanks are probably not as strong as they should be. The stalk quality is not great.”

According to the latest USDA crop progress and conditions report, Indiana corn is 90 percent dented, 46 percent mature, seven percent harvested, and rated 61 percent good to excellent.

Soybeans are 59 percent dropping leaves, eight percent harvested, and rated 61 percent good to excellent.

He says early harvest results were positive, but, “The field was hurt by too much water,” he says. “We probably lost about four or five acres right out through the center of it. When you factor that in, I think they still made over 60. The beans were better than that, but you farm the whole field, you pay for the whole field.”

Cherry raises corn, soybeans, and wheat on his farm in Hancock County.

AUDIO: Chris Cherry