Corn harvest ended here on the evening of Thursday 25 September, just before an inch of rainfall that night. With harvesting of maize complete, this is clearly a year that the Rosenbohm family would wish to forget.

With all field averages now calculated, the top end of corn (maize) yield was 140 bushels (bu) per acre (3.6 t/ac) and the low was 54 bushels per acre (1.4 t/ac). The overall average corn yield was 80 bu/ac (2.0 t/ac) compared with 220 bu/ac (5.6 t/ac) last year – back about 64%.

The highest yield was achieved on a field west of Maitland, about 10 miles west of Graham, which received just a little bit more rain during the growing season. The low yield of 54bu was recorded in a hill field with sandy soil which has poor water retention.

There was yield variability in every field with soil type variation. Low lying heavy clay soils yielded better than soils on higher ground which were mainly sandy loams.

There was one field which Kevin was able to flood irrigate due to the presence of a spring beside the field. Movement of the water was difficult to control because of the slopes and it really only benefited certain areas of the field. The area which got the water consistently yielded over 200 bu/ac (5.1 t/ac), which really proved how important water is to growing crops.

This year, maize plants had only one poorly filled cob. Last season, most plants carried two large cobs and there was even a third cob on some. Some fields had a lot of greenery between the rows due to the failure of an April applied herbicide for post-emergence weed control. This did not work at all due to the high temperatures at the time, plus a lack of soil moisture.

Some fields were worse affected than others. Fields with the poorest yields tended to have the poorest weed control and the most weeds present. These fields will be disked now to help kill this vegetation.

Soya bean harvesting is likely to have begun last week. Crops have ripened very unevenly, with parts of fields looking ripe while other areas remained very green.

Harvesting drought-hit maize in Missouri.

Poorly filled

The maize here is a far cry from the lush green maize I left behind in Ireland. The maize in Missouri was a brown/grey colour with some stalks breaking above the ears. It had small short cobs with shrivelled-up leaves and grains. The plants were very dry and brittle and showed very little signs of life when I arrived.

Some crops had some of their cobs knocked to the ground following stormy weather – these cobs were lost to the combine. The kernels are only half the size of last year so quality is expected to be down, as well as yield.

The soya beans greened up a while ago following the first significant rains. The Rosenbohms try to have their corn harvest finished before they move to soya beans and this has worked out again this year. As had been anticipated, the low corn yields enabled harvest to be completed faster so now all the focus is on soya beans.

Soya bean yields are also expected to be lower but they were not as badly affected by the drought as the corn. Yields are expected to be back to around 35-40 bu/ac (0.9-1.0 t/ac) compared to 50 bu/ac (1.36 t/ac) in 2017. They are also 10 to 12 inches shorter compared to a normal year, which will make them more difficult to harvest. Kevin recently purchased a new 10m MacDon Draper Flex header to help cut the beans. This header will give more ground hugging movement and this should provide a more even flow into the combine to increase output.

Over-ripe maize resulting from the impact of a severe drought.

Positive attitude

Asked how he will cope with a harvest like this, Kevin’s general attitude remained largely positive. This must be difficult given that most of the rest of the US is expecting very high yields. Just 40 miles away farmers got normal rainfall amounts.

Kevin knew from early in the summer that his yields were going to be hit by the drought so he stopped selling corn. He sold enough to cover his obligations. He is currently mixing 2018 corn with some from 2017 so that it will meet minimum quality standards to avoid price penalties.

Matt Rosenbohm, Kevin’s son, is looking at the drought for the opportunities it may provide. Problems locally could mean that the farm will be able to rent more land at a cheaper price. He hopes that some nearby tenants will cease renting land which is bounding them, so they can rent it.

Minimising impact

The Rosenbohms continue to look at ways of minimising the economic impact of a drought like this. Nick Rosenbohm, another son, studied irrigation systems in college. He found that in two out of 10 years irrigation would break even and in one of those years would pay for itself handsomely. However, it would just be a cost on the farm in the remaining years.

They grow a lot of different varieties on the farm and the hope is that some of these will withstand the drought better than others. If such a variety is found, it will be grown.

The drought may also drive changes to the nitrogen application system. The Rosenbohm’s are hoping to split their fertiliser N applications. Normally, they would apply anhydrous ammonia 7-10 days before planting. In future they are planning to apply less anhydrous and add a top dressing of liquid N during the growing season.

When this change occurs the liquid N can be reduced or eliminated in a drought year as it would be a waste to apply that extra fertiliser. In a normal year, they hope that split applications will help increase yield potential, as it will be applied during a stage of growth when the plant is most responsive to nitrogen.

Crop insurance

Crop insurance can be used in the US to help counter difficult years like this. While the Rosenbohms do not pay for premium level insurance, their policy should be able to cover the input costs for growing the crop.

Matt commented that they are not ‘insurance’ farmers. Some farmers get an insurance payment almost every year because they pay a high premium per acre for wider cover. The Rosenbohms take the basic insurance cover because it will cover inputs in a bad year like this.

“If we are not good enough to make money from growing the crop then we shouldn’t be farming”, Matt concluded.

*Ben Rickard is from Co Meath and is the current ITLUS Rosenbohm intern in Missouri.