March 29, 2024

Riding the weather roller coaster

Culp shares farm update

RENSSELAER, Ind. — From dry to wet to dry again, Indiana fields have seen a roller coaster of weather surprises this year.

Kendell Culp, farmer and vice president of Indiana Farm Bureau, said he and many farmers remain optimistic about harvest, despite challenging growing conditions.

He shared an update with AgriNews.

How do you feel going into harvest?

Farmers are eternal optimists. I’m always optimistic. Usually we’re pleasantly surprised. I’m looking forward to harvest and seeing what we have out there. I think most farmers are anxious for harvest to get here, to get in the fields and get busy.

What’s the corn harvest outlook?

Because of the dry weather, we wonder if we might harvest a little bit earlier than normal. But a lot of the crops were planted a bit later than normal this spring. We did have some April planted corn.

The problem with that is it pollinated during the hottest, driest time. So, that might hurt it. But for May planted corn, I think it pollinated at a better time. That later planted corn might outyield the earlier corn.

Any disease or pest pressure?

No, I’ve not noticed anything. We’ve been pretty fortunate that way. We’ve heard about different issues like white mold or spider mites. We never saw that here. The crop looks pretty good. There was a lot of fungicide applied to this crop — we certainly did on our acres. That’s always a safeguard against some of those issues.

What else is going on on northern Indiana farms?

In our area, we have mint acres being harvested. It seems like mint harvest is winding down. That gets planted early in the spring, around March, and then harvest begins around August. I haven’t heard anything about yields, but it’s something unique to this part of the state.

What has Farm Bureau been up to this summer?

We spent a lot of time at the State Fair. The Women’s Leadership Committee hosted the Taste From Indiana Farms. Thousands of people came through to sample food and learn about Indiana agriculture.

We hosted several elected officials there, including Senator Braun. We invited commodity groups, industry partners and Purdue to be a part of that.

Congressman Pence came with his Washington staff. After a quick meeting, State Fair officials took him and the staff around the fairgrounds.

They met with constituents from his district. It was interesting, of his staff only one was from Indiana. They didn’t know much about animal agriculture.

We sometimes forget about the staff, but it’s really important that they are exposed to agriculture, and we teach them as much as we can.

Erica Quinlan

Erica Quinlan

Field Editor