April 23, 2008

 

US corn growers to face more planting delays on weather changes

 

 

US corn growers will likely face continued planting delays in the next week as two weather systems move through the Midwest between now and Sunday, meteorologists said.

 

A half-inch and 1.5 inches of rain will dump on Thursday into Friday in the western Midwest, and possibly include wet snow in parts of Minnesota and northern Iowa, said Mike Palmerino, senior agricultural meteorologist at DTN Meteorlogix.

 

The western corn belt should see more rainfall on Sunday, potentially as much as an inch, he said.

 

Both weather systems are expected to dump rain farther east, into Indiana and Ohio, where rain totals could be between half-an-inch and two inches late Sunday, he said.

 

A DTN Meteorlogix 10-day forecast calls for increased chances of rain through May 2 in the corn belt.

 

Palmerino said that beyond that, the weather models are erratic.

 

The meteorologist expressed not much optimism about corn planting in the major corn-growing areas of the Midwest. He added that the weather in the first part of May is going to be critical this year.

 

Roger Elmore, a corn extension agronomist at Iowa State University, said there is no reason for corn growers to be nervous yet, because they still have three weeks or so to finish plantings before yields would begin to suffer.

 

Nobody should be thinking at this point that we need to switch to soy because it is too late for corn, Elmore pointed out.

 

Corn plantings in the US are 4 percent complete, well behind the five-year average of 17 percent, the USDA said Monday.

 

Indiana and Iowa had no corn planted as of Sunday, and Illinois had planted only 1 percent, the USDA said.

 

Mike Tannura, a meteorologist and commodity analyst with T-Storm Weather, said most areas of the western Midwest will get an inch of rain Thursday and Friday, with as much as two inches locally.

 

Areas further east will get half to two-thirds of an inch. The following system will roll through the Midwest Sunday and Monday, but it is unclear if that will include a lot of rain or a little bit of rain, he stated.

 

In the meantime, he said, corn growers have benefited from warmth that has helped soil temperatures.

 

However, temperatures will be below average throughout the corn belt early next week, Tannura added.