Angela McClure, corn and soybean specialist in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Tennessee, in late October said Tennessee is 99 percent complete with corn harvest.
“The dry weather in September hasn’t been the best for late-planted soybeans, but it has been a blessing for corn farmers needing to get their crops out of the field,” she said. “Early on, I was very impressed with our small plot and strip trial yields at different research centers and on-farm sites, which is a pretty good indicator of the yield potential out in the state.”
At least 85 percent of Tennessee corn acres are not irrigated, so a good dryland yield is important to farmers in the area.
“Based on what I am hearing, our dryland corn yields have been good to exceptional and most producers are very pleased. Ears pollinated well with deep kernels, and good test weights have helped. Also, southern rust was not a widespread issue for us,” McClure said.
Because of weather issues, mainly wet conditions in the spring and some flooding in the western part of the state, some fields destined for corn went to soybeans.