It wasn’t a good growing season for farmers with floods in late spring and a dry spell in late summer. And, crop prices were down.
TOWNSHIP RAINFALL CHART IS ATTACHED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS STORY.
Liberty Township, the area surrounding Ada, had the most rain of any township in the county with 30.38 total inches. The county average was 24.7 inches.
Here's a rainfall report for the growing season, plus some comments on this year's corn harvest, from Mark Badertscher, agriculture and natural resources extension educator:
With the help of 15 volunteer rainfall reporters, the Hardin County Extension office has collected unofficial township rainfall data for the past 23 consecutive years.
The 2015 growing season started with a relatively warm and dry planting period. Although most corn was planted early to mid May, excessive rainfall starting later in the month greatly reduced yields. This continuous rainfall persisted into mid July. During this time period, the area didn’t have five good crop growing days in a row.
Root systems were weakened by the excessive rainfall, restricting their growth. A dryer period followed in August and September, accompanied by mild temperatures. Timely rains in August allowed plants to have access to water. This was important because inadequate root development restricted available water that could have been otherwise obtained from the soil at deeper depths.
Unfortunately, several cornfields were damaged beyond repair from earlier rains, causing variability in yields. Inability of soils to drain excess water flooded out several acres of soybeans, causing overall yield reductions in several fields.
Growing season rainfall
During the growing season, from April 15 through Oct. 15, average rainfall was 24.70 inches. This is 1.01 inches above the 10-year average growing season precipitation, and 3.66 more inches of rain than last year’s growing season.
Harvest came earlier this year, with most fields being done by November or before. The most rainfall recorded during the growing season was 30.38 inches in Liberty Township by Phil Epley. Hale Township was close behind with 29.71 inches as reported by Tim Ramsey.
The least amount of rain was recorded in Goshen Township by Brien Brothers Farm, with 20.82 inches for the season. A range of 9.56 inches in rainfall accumulation from high to low across the county is an indication of the variability in rainfall throughout Hardin County in 2015.
Corn yields inconsistent
Corn yields were inconsistent, depending on the area rainfall, and ability to drain excess water. Some yields varied greatly in fields, bringing in lower bushels.
However, moisture levels in corn were dryer, eliminating the need for running grain dryers as much as other years. Soybeans did better than expected in areas that did not flood out, however these yields were also lower than normal.
Lower yields for the growing season were also accompanied with lower crop prices. Fall planting of winter wheat has emerged with good stands initially in areas that had adequate soil moisture, but then growth slowed because of the dry fall.
Cover crop emergence and growth has also been challenged in some areas for the same reason. Because of the early harvest, there has been a large amount of fall tillage in the county. This has also allowed for fertilizer and lime applications in selected fields.
