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Rains Mixed Blessing for Alabama’s Corn Producers
Auburn,
May 29, 2003---
For corn producers
in Jackson County, the recent rains have been too much of a good
thing. Some fields already lined with young, pale green corn plants
have been underwater for more than four days. Other fields are
waterlogged and will take days to dry out.
Jackson
County Extension Agent Lewis Tapley said this is the worst looking
corn crop that he can remember.
“Every field has spots that are just drowned out,” said Tapley. “We
have some fields that have as little as 10 percent of the crop lost,
while others may be a total loss.”
“We
need at least a week of sunny, breezy weather to dry the fields.
There are some fields in creek and river bottoms that may not dry out
until mid-June.”
Jackson County is
the leading corn producer in the state, where more than 20,000 acres
are planted annually. While corn is planted in almost every county,
the greatest concentration of acreage is in the northeast corner of
the state. Jackson, DeKalb, Madison, Colbert and Lawrence counties
are consistently produce the most corn.
However, Dr. Paul Mask, a corn and small grains agronomist with the
Alabama Cooperative Extension System, says that while statewide the
situation is not as critical as in Jackson County, farmers are facing
a number of challenges with this year’s corn crop.
“In
general, the crop is looking good for the most part and that’s with
more than 80 percent of the crop out of the ground,” said Mask.
“However, producers across Alabama have some degree of problems.”
Mask
says while some are the normal problems associated with production,
other problems are directly related to the widespread, heavy rains
that have swept across the state for the last few weeks.
Farmers are worried about the loss of nitrogen fertilizer applied
before or at planting time, adds Mask. Nitrogen is water soluble and
is particularly susceptible to leaching out of the soil by heavy
rains.
“While
farmers are concerned about leaching, I think the bigger concern is
denitrification,” he said. “When soil is underwater or waterlogged,
it becomes an anaerobic environment (or an environment without
oxygen). Anaerobic bacteria begin to break down the nitrogen, making
it unusable by the corn plants.”
Fertilization with
adequate levels of nitrogen is required for good corn production on
all Alabama soils. Mask says no other element produces such large and
consistent increases in corn yields. For economical returns, larger
quantities of nitrogen are normally required than are needed of any
other element.
“While
we don’t recommend it, some farmers will have applied all the
recommended nitrogen fertilizer at planting,” said Mask. “They may
have lost all of that nutrient because of denitrification in
waterlogged soils.”
Some current research indicates that as much as 5
percent of the total amount of nitrogen is lost for every day the soil
remains flooded or waterlogged.
Flooded
corn fields flooded are under substantial stress, which will increase
the possibility of disease and decrease the yield potential.
Mask
and Tapley agree that farmers will have to evaluate each of their
fields and determine which are in the best shape and which will
benefit most from additional applications of nitrogen.
“It’s
just a waste of money to apply more fertilizer to a field that has
been waterlogged for 10 days or so,” says Mask. “As expensive as
fertilizer is, a farmer would be better served to only apply
additional fertilizer to those fields in the best condition.”
“It’s
unfortunate that farmers are facing this challenge,” said Mask. “Corn
acreage is up for the first time since 1999.”
According to the Alabama Agricultural Statistics Service, acreage is
up 10 percent from 200,000 in 2002 to 220,000 acres this year. About
180,000 acres were harvested last year with an average yield of 88
bushels per acre or more than 15.80 million bushels statewide.
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