Hot, dry weather conditions have settled in Indiana, and crops are starting to suffer.
On Thursday, Purdue University addressed the issue, noting that if the dry spell continues, drought-stressed fields will produce lower-than-anticipated yields.
“A month ago I was very optimistic about the size of this corn crop, but now I’m less so,” said corn specialist Bob Nielsen in a Purdue news update.
That’s because, up until two weeks ago, Indiana was boasting a good growing season with plenty of rain. The dry spell is a “recent development,” noted Ken Scheeringa, associate state climatologist, in a telephone interview Thursday.
“Before that, it was a pretty different outlook,” Scheeringa said.
In fact, earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected that this year Indiana farmers would produce 979.4 million bushels of corn — annually the state’s largest crop — compared with the drought-reduced 596.9 million bushels last year.
Nielsen said a lack of rain may reduce the yields by as much as 10 percent. Yield loss would be in the form of reduced kernel weights, not numbers of kernels per ear, because most of the crops were well into the grain filling period when the dryness hit.
“You won’t see widespread damage,” Scheeringa said. “Not every field will be messed up like last year. Right now, it’s drying up in spots. We’re sort of in the beginning stages. If we don’t get rain soon, it’ll be a different story.”
Lawrence County is among the most hardest hit areas of Indiana in terms of its lack of rain. Recent maps issued by the Indiana State Climate Office at Purdue University show that Lawrence County has only received about a half-inch to an inch of rain since July 29.
“In Lawrence County, you fall into the south-central Indiana region, which is among the worst areas of the state in terms of rainfall,” Scheeringa said. “For August, you’ve only had a third of the normal rainfall amount. Looking at the entire state, you’re the furthest behind for the month of August.”
And Scheeringa doesn’t look for that dryness to change in the near future.
“Forecast models are wishy-washy right now in terms of the temperature,” Scheeringa said.
“It’s changing continuously as to whether this heat will remain, or if temperatures will drop again. The thing that seems to be consistent is the dryness. It could get worse before it gets better.”