Crops not handling rain well

BUCYRUS – Persistent rains throughout most of Ohio during the latter two-thirds of June have done a real number on corn and soybean fields. The crops, which just two weeks ago were mostly in good condition, are now considered only fair, with a rising percentage in poor shape.

"Standing water has led to disease, projected yield losses and weed pressures. The muddy, saturated fields have prevented producers from being able to spray, fertilize or continue to make hay," the Ohio field office of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service said in its latest crop weather reporter for the state.

"Livestock producers noted the animals are in very mucky conditions. Sunshine and dry weather would be appreciated statewide."

Joe Cornely, spokesman for the Ohio Farm Bureau, said he saw a variety of field conditions Tuesday morning driving from Columbus to Bucyrus Tuesday morning.

"Some fields have looked really good and some fields have looked horrible. If this continues it could start to get a lot more worrisome, if this corn gets stunted of completely drowned out, the same way with the beans," he said.

Cornely cautioned, however, "that it ain't your grandfather's crop anymore. We're fortunate that technology has allowed us to come up with plants that are a lot tougher than they used to be."

They're going to need to be, to recover from June's excessive precipitation. The USDA said 44 percent of Ohio's corn crop was in only fair condition for the week ended Sunday, with 35 percent in good shape, while 12 percent was poor. Soybeans were in similar shape at 40 percent fair, 37 percent good and 12 percent poor.

Winter wheat is doing slightly better, the USDA said, with 43 percent rated fair and 40 percent in good condition. The federal agency said 33 percent of the state's wheat crop had matured as of Sunday, up from 11 percent at the same point last year, with just 3 percent harvested compared to the five-year average of 13 percent.

Reducing runoff

Cornely was in Crawford County on Tuesday to talk about the Ohio Farm Bureau's efforts to convince farmers of the need to reduce fertilizer runoff and change other agricultural practices that may be contributing to elevated levels of algae in the state's rivers, lakes and streams, especially in the western basin of Lake Erie.

"The vast majority understand that we've got a job to do here and it's going to require us to make some changes, but any time some change is required it will come with some resistance. Let's avoid doing something just to be doing something. If I'm going to change my farming practices, if I'm going to do things differently than perhaps I've ever done in my life, I want to make sure that it's going to improve water quality, and that I can do it without, to the extreme, putting myself out of business," he said.

"Some of these changes will require a lot of money, and some will require a lot of knowledge, and some will require knowledge that we don't even have yet."

In the spring, Gov. John Kasich signed into law Senate Bill 1, instituting several changes in various practices in an effort to improve Lake Erie's water quality.

The open disposal of dredge materials in the lake will be eliminated by 2020. The Ohio EPA has been charged with more closely monitoring phosphorus discharge in both new and existing wastewater discharge permits granted to public treatment plants.

The change that will most affect agricultural producers in the lake's western basin is the ban on manure or fertilizer application on frozen or snow-covered ground unless it's done by injection, tillage or over cover crops. Anyone spreading manure must also now acquire a certificate.

Cornely observed that algal blooms are increasing even as farmers are putting down less phosphorus than ever before. He blamed a change in the way fertilizer pellets are formulated. He also blamed the weather.

"These heavy rainfall events that are different than we used to have are definitely leading to part of the problem," he said.

Surplus of rainfall

According to the National Weather Service, virtually every part of Ohio is harboring a precipitation surplus going back to April 1, with only Cincinnati and New Philadelphia still carrying deficits.

Locally, rainfall surpluses for the time period are still manageable, from 2.12 inches in Bucyrus and 3.20 inches in Mansfield to 3.64 inches at Fredericktown and 3.84 inches at Marion. Van Wert, however, in the western part of the state, has an astounding rainfall surplus of 13.45 inches since April 1.

But Cornely also acknowledged that farming practices, at one time instituted to protect the land, could now be contributing to the harming of our waterways.

"You'll recall that in the late 1970s and '80s we needed to stop soil erosion, so we went to conservation tillage, no-till. In order to do that you don't break the ground up as much, so we're putting the fertilizer down on top of the ground. Is that making it more likely that it's going to be washed off than if it were incorporated or injected? And the answer is yes," he said.

"The laws of unintended consequences can be expensive. These no-till techniques were changes farmers made directly in response to public demand that we stop sedimentation. Got it, we'll learn. It took us years to get it all done, but we're doing a lot of it. Now here we are in 2015 and we're having some problems because we're farming this way."

thill3@nncogannett.com

419-563-9225

Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ