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July 5, 2012

Sun-soaked, thirsty corn crop 'starting to shape up'

By Ryan Smith Meadville Tribune

MEADVILLE — Lifelong farmers like Milton Payne know there's not much at all they can do about the weather and the way it affects their crops except sit back and wait, and watch -- and hope.

Last year, farmers like the 71-year-old -- who plants on 1,000 acres of Conneautville- and Saegertown-area cornfields -- endured games of waiting then catching up after a record amount of spring rainfall hit the area, drenching fields and pushing many first plantings well into June, critically late. This year (and especially before the torrential downpours that hit parts of the region Tuesday) rain's also been a considerable problem -- but definitely not because there's been too much of it.

The majority of Payne's corn was indeed standing, according to the traditional standard, at knee-high by the Fourth of July -- and a good bit higher in some spots -- but "we need some water awful bad," he said earlier this week.

The National Weather Service reporting station in Erie measured 19.76 inches of precipitation during the three-month period of March, April and May 2011, but the entirety of this year prior to this week's rainstorms had brought a total of less than approximately 15 inches of rain to the Crawford County region, according to Joel Hunter, local Penn State University Cooperative Extension agronomist. And there's been plenty of scorching-hot days on top of that.

"The corn likes all this sunshine, that's for sure," Hunter said recently, but "we need rain for sure."

WICU-TV meteorologists, who provide weather forecasts for The Meadville Tribune, called for the possibility of more rain this weekend in the extended forecast issued Wednesday.

The corn crops "are starting to shape up," Payne said recently. "I hope we keep on getting some rain."



Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.

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