Despite the summer drought, the
Georgia
corn crop could still make good yields, said a University
of Georgia scientist.

“It all depends on where the
rain falls,” said
Dewey Lee, a UGA Extension
Service grains scientist. “Overall, the potential for a
good crop yield
is still there.”

J. Cannon, UGA CAES

A CRITICAL TIME for corn in Georgia is when silking begins. University of Georgia scientists say corn needs about one-third an inch of water daily to ensure grain fill and a full crop. In spite of a recent lack of water, the ‘potential is still there’ for the Georgia crop.

During the week ending June 4,
the Georgia
Ag Statistics Service reports that 59 percent of the
Georgia corn crop is
in fair, good or excellent condition. But only 22 percent of
farmers report
adequate soil moisture.

A
critical time

“Corn is in the critical water-
need stage of
silking and grain fill,” Lee said. At this stage, corn needs
about a third
of an inch of water every day. Without water now, the
kernels won’t fill out
properly.

Georgia’s corn
value

Lee estimates Georgia farmers
planted about
340,000 acres of corn this year. Last year’s 265,000
harvested acres was valued
at $54 million.

About 35 percent of Georgia’s
corn acreage,
120,000 acres, is irrigated. Lee said farmers with
irrigation need to make
sure their systems work properly throughout the season so
the crop gets the
water it needs.

Problems other
than water

But farmers who use irrigation
face problems
besides a lack of water. With water come diseases. Lee said
common rust is
showing up, particularly in irrigated fields.

“But I’m sure the farmers
would rather deal
with rust than dry stalks,” he said. Though common rust has
some farmers concerned,
Lee said as average daily temperatures rise, it will be less
of a problem.

On the remaining 210,000 acres
of dryland corn,
Lee said hit-and-miss rain showers make all the
difference. “I’ve seen some
dryland corn that looks really good,” he said. “Other
fields, well, they’re
just about burned up.”

Need more
corn

Whatever the crop outcome, Lee
said Georgia
is still a corn deficit state. Georgia farmers could grow
four times what
they do and just barely have enough to provide feed for the
poultry and hog
industries.

“Georgia’s poultry industry
uses far more (corn)
than we produce,” said George Shumaker,
a UGA Extension Service economist. “We have the actual
acres, but other crops,
particularly cotton and peanuts, are more profitable. And
farmers won’t stop
growing those to grow corn.”

Feed processors import corn
and other grains
from the Midwest to fulfill the livestock feed
demands.