Ron Smith 1, Senior Content Director

June 27, 2012

8 Slides

Butch Aycock says he used to consider himself a corn farmer, “until it didn’t rain for about five years.”

He says a farmer can do everything right, get a perfect stand and have everything set up for a good yield. “But if the water is turned off the best stand will not make a crop. You can’t cure dry.”

Aycock, who farms mostly in Collin County, Texas, in the Northeast corner of the state, says his 2012 corn crop is off to a good start in most places. “We had a lot of June rains, up to 10 inches in some fields, but the crop varies a lot.”

He’s hoping to make a “two-fer,” two good crops in a year with a good corn yield following the best wheat he’s ever had, an 80 bushel per acre average. Another decent rain or two and he’ll have a good chance of that two-fer.

About the Author(s)

Ron Smith 1

Senior Content Director, Farm Press/Farm Progress

Ron Smith has spent more than 40 years covering Sunbelt agriculture. Ron began his career in agricultural journalism as an Experiment Station and Extension editor at Clemson University, where he earned a Masters Degree in English in 1975. He served as associate editor for Southeast Farm Press from 1978 through 1989. In 1990, Smith helped launch Southern Turf Management Magazine and served as editor. He also helped launch two other regional Turf and Landscape publications and launched and edited Florida Grove and Vegetable Management for the Farm Press Group. Within two years of launch, the turf magazines were well-respected, award-winning publications. Ron has received numerous awards for writing and photography in both agriculture and landscape journalism. He is past president of The Turf and Ornamental Communicators Association and was chosen as the first media representative to the University of Georgia College of Agriculture Advisory Board. He was named Communicator of the Year for the Metropolitan Atlanta Agricultural Communicators Association. More recently, he was awarded the Norman Borlaug Lifetime Achievement Award by the Texas Plant Protection Association. Smith also worked in public relations, specializing in media relations for agricultural companies. Ron lives with his wife Pat in Johnson City, Tenn. They have two grown children, Stacey and Nick, and three grandsons, Aaron, Hunter and Walker.

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