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KyCGA News
For Immediate Release
June 20, 2008
Corn Growers Expect Excellent Crop Despite Late Start
(Louisville, KY) – Eighty percent of the 2008 Kentucky corn
crop was designated in good to excellent condition according
to the June 16 Kentucky Agricultural Statistics Service (KASS)
Weekly Crop and Weather Report despite the late
planting due to heavy Spring rainfall. In fact, corn
emergence was ahead of the five-year average, at 98 percent.
“This is
great news for our growers,” says Jerry Griffith, president
of the Kentucky Corn Growers Association (KyCGA). “Each year
we are so dependent on the weather, and it looks like it
will work in our favor this growing season.”
University
of Kentucky (UK) grain crops experts say that now is the
time moisture becomes important for yield determination and
the crop will require periodic rainfall to maintain the
excellent crop condition.
Much of
the corn is determining ear size and ear number at this
point. With favorable weather now, growers should have good
cob lengths and good row numbers.
“A 112-day
corn crop requires 24 inches of rain per growing season for
adequate yields,” says Chad Lee, UK Extension grain
specialist. “That equates to about 0.2 inches per day, but a
crop can grow with a little less water depending on the
timing.”
KASS also
reported soil moisture on June 16. It listed 74 percent of
the top soil had adequate to surplus moisture, and the sub
soil, 83 percent had adequate to surplus moisture.
“We do want
to turn our thoughts to the growers in the mid-west," adds
Griffith, "as the
recent floods have devastated a large portion of the
nation’s cropland. In any given year, farmers in different
regions may suffer severe crop losses, but American farmers
are resilient and will continue to produce the world’s
safest, most abundant food supply.”
The
Kentucky Corn Growers Association represents the interests
of more than 2000 corn farmers who contribute through the
Kentucky corn checkoff program. For more information visit
www.kycorn.org.
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Contact: Jennifer Elwell
502/921-2625 or
info@kycorn.org
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