Fall warmth is helping crops to mature

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 10 October 2019 at 9:16 pm

23,000 acres weren’t planted in Orleans due to wet spring

Photos by Tom Rivers: These soybeans in the Albion FFA Land Lab have benefitted from the warm weather in the fall, without a hard frost.

Farmers in Orleans County who took a chance by planting crops later than usual are getting some nice warm weather to help the crops mature.

Normally a hard frost has hit by now, with shuts down corn and soybeans.

But the freezing temperatures have stayed away, allowing crops to mature. Farmers would like about two more weeks of warmth for the corn and soybeans to reach good yields and high quality, said Larry Meyer, director of the Farm Service Agency in Orleans and Monroe counties.

In Orleans, there are usually about 125,000 acres planted each year with corn and soybeans. Meyer said the wet spring delayed planting with farmers deciding not to plant 23,170 acres. There were about 90,000 acres that went unplanted in Orleans, Genesee, Niagara and Monroe counties, Meyer said.

“There is still a lot of corn that is green,” Meyer said today. “But most of the soybeans are drying down. Most are looking good.”

Farmers who planted late will know in couple weeks if they have a quality crop with a good yield.

“If we can get a couple more weeks without a killing frost, we’ll catch up,” Meyer said. “It could turn out OK for people who did plant.”