A thunderstorm early Friday morning gave Iola a sip of moisture, at two-tenths of an inch.
That isn’t good, nor is the weather pattern of this summer.
While every little bit helps, the meager rainfall continues a pattern that began more than a month ago — storms either skirted Allen County or produced rain in amounts that had little or no effect on area crops.
Since May 1, only 1.27 inches of moisture has fallen.
Hence, corn was planted earlier than usual and has tasseled in many fields and ears are forming.
“If we don’t get a rain soon, there isn’t going to be much” corn to harvest in August and September, said Marvin Lynch, Piqua Farmers Cooperative manager.
Lynch has a running account of farm conditions from daily conversations with farmers.
Some corn will be done — a colloquialism for beyond recovery — in a matter of days, Lynch said.
“We could still have some decent corn with rain,” he said.
A couple of weeks ago, when a front skipped through Iola without enough rain to more than wet the pavement, “they got three inches down by Buffalo,” Lynch said. Fields along the south edge of the county also got a decent soaking.
Soybeans, genetically engineered to cope with drought, are hanging on, he said.
“The beans are little and it’s amazing that they’re growing at all,” Lynch noted, especially with the heat and wind that has accompanied the dry spell — in a scenario that’s more reminiscent of mid-July or August.
“Soybeans can hold on a long time, but they won’t amount to much if they don’t get a rain soon,” Lynch predicted. Small vines, a result of delayed growth, won’t support many pods.
While the outlook for the county’s two main cash crops has farmers suffering fits of anxiety, wheat was an exceeding bright spot.
“We should have planted wall-to-wall wheat this year,” Lynch said.
Wheat carried to the Piqua elevators came from fields that made as much as 90 bushels to an acre. On average, local wheat was in the low-60s, with only a few fields under 40 bushels per acre, he said.
