Source: Huron Daily Tribune
Although dry conditions early this summer in Michigan could affect crop yields in the fall, all is not lost.
“If you’re going to have a drought, it’s better to have it early than it is in the middle of the season,” said Bob Battel, crops educator for Michigan State University Extension.
“Lack of rain will, at the end of the year, have an effect on yield,” he added. “ … Unless it stays dry through July, it won't have a crop-failing effect.”
“We’re not in the best shape. But we’re in pretty good shape,” he said. “Of course we sure could use rain, but … if you’re not in the reproductive stage yet, especially for corn … not all is lost.”
Most local crops — except for wheat and soybeans — are in what’s known as the vegetative state of growth, Battel said. And that’s a good thing considering the recent drought.
Although soybeans are going into their reproductive stage, through most of the worst part of the drought — May 28 to June 22 — they were still in the vegetative state.
Between six-tenths and one inch of rain fell on the Upper Thumb June 23 and 24.
“We could have used twice what we got. But it certainly didn’t hurt. It helped,” Battel said.
The area also got some much-needed rain Thursday.
Corn and dry beans will go into the reproductive stage in the next couple of weeks.
“July is what we think of when corn starts to pollinate and soybeans and dry beans start to flower,” he added.
So as long as the area sees rain in July — when corn starts to pollinate and tassel — there is hope for the corn corp.
Last year, Huron County led the state’s corn production with an estimated 197.9 bushels per acre, according the United State Department of Agriculture. Sanilac County produced 185.5 bushels per acre, and Tuscola County produced 172.1 bushels per acre.
The statewide yield was 159 bushels per acre, up two bushels from the previous year.
Last year, Battel credited near-prefect weather and genetics for the high local yield.
Sugarbeets — a biennial crop that goes through two years of growth — does not go through a reproductive stage before it’s harvested, Battel said.
“Sugarbeets, they can soak up rain whenever it falls,” Battel said. “Unless it gets to a point where it’s permanently wilted, which rarely, if ever, happens. So basically, sugarbeets can sit in the dry ground and wait for rain.”
“There’s never really a critical time for rain for sugar beets. They keep growing until they’re harvested, before the ground freezes,” he added.
Sugarbeet production in 2017 fell by more than a million tons compared to the previous year, according to Michigan Sugar Co. But sugar content was up from 15.8 percent to 18.3 percent, allowing Michigan Sugar to produce the same amount of sugar as it had the previous year.