Orange County Farmer C.J. Fleenor Discusses Issues Impacting Corn, Soybean Harvest

Six percent of Indiana’s corn and three percent of the state’s soybeans are now harvested, according to USDA.

C.J. Fleenor, an Orange County corn and soybean producer who farms near Orleans, tells Hoosier Ag Today that he began his first day of harvesting corn on Monday.

“Several of our local producers started rolling late last week, but we did not have as much of the early April corn out as we would have liked to,” says Fleenor. “We’re getting a little bit of a later start than where we wanted to be. We’re seeing just how dry some of this corn may end up being given what everybody’s been talking about as far as the Southern Rust and Tar Spot issues. Even though we’ve been using fungicides, a lot of this corn in my area is just dead.”

Aside from drought stress and disease pressure, he says there’s another wild card that may end up having an impact on corn yields this year.

“What I’ve noticed is a lot of people have not necessarily given thought to the corn acres where they may have holes in their fields. It seems like the soybeans got those holes spotted back in after planting, but corn just never dried out enough for producers to be able to get back in there and spot those corn seeds back in, so I think there’s going to be some disappointment from those holes, as well as the effects of fungi on corn,” he says.

Even though he says he’s waiting until the end of this week to consider harvesting soybeans, he says there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the beans in his area.

“There are some pretty good-looking soybeans out there, but it just depends on where you are, the day you planted, and how much rain you got,” says Fleenor. “I have a 50/50 split of guys that say, ‘Hey, I’m going to have the best bean crop of my life,’ or ‘I’m going to have the worst bean crop I’ve had in the last 10 or 15 years.’ I’ve heard both sides. I’ve heard from some guys who are cutting beans who tell me they have some great numbers, and then some guys are telling me they already have relatively disappointing numbers.”

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