Those who said there would be a break in the weather were finally right. Of course, they were saying it for about a month before it happened. And it may not be enough of a break to bail out those with river bottom land and other saturated soils who hoped to see corn growing there this year. Slowly but surely, the percentage planted numbers go up, both for corn and soybeans. It's now dangerously late for both crops if you have top yields plugged into your budgets. This may be one of those…

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Next week, before the old year rings out, I’ll take a personal look back at what 2010 meant for me and my family. This time, I’ll put on my farmer hat, made up of many colors, just like Joseph’s coat, because I try not to be partial to one brand or another, even though that’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. When the growing season started, hope sprang abundant in the Midwest. Tractors rolled early compared to the past few seasons. A good share of the crop went…

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Two weeks ago Ray McCormick, Vincennes, thought he had one of this best corn crops ever. Now, 400 acres are under water in the White River bottoms. And it was just beginning to tassel. The problem wasn't rain at Vincennes, it was rain in central Indiana that goes down the White River. And this was before the flood waters of last week headed south. Two weeks ago farmers in western Benton  County thought they were looking at 220 bushels of corn per acre. In a matter of minutes, some fields…

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Robert Frost penned a poem that remains in my memory yet today. It's one of the few things I remember from high school, academics-wise, at least, and most likely the only poem. The story line goes like this- a woodcutter accidentally cuts himself at work in the forest. He bleeds out and dies. It's a big deal for him, obviously. But for everyone else, except his family and friends, life goes on, just as before.   OK, now you know why I don't write poetry. But there is relevance. Many of you…

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The best corn I've seen so far this year was in the Beck's Hybrids date of planting study at Atlanta. Toby Ripberger showed me around, and it didn't talk long to determine that the biggest and healthiest looking corn was planted while the calendar still said March. The soybeans planted then didn't look too shabby either.   April plantings of soybeans and corn looked good too. The planting suffering the worst was planted May 12, especially for corn. The stand wasn't quite measuring up…

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