Grading Fields for Higher Yields
Harvest is growing long these days. It’s been a good harvest. However, there’s nothing more disheartening than watching the yield monitor register some of the best corn you’ve ever had, only to suddenly drop by 100 or more bushels an acre. If corn is selling for approximately $4 per bushel, simple math tells us that equates to $400 an acre. What’s causing this loss? Wet holes. The flat creek bottom where we’ve raised our best corn is littered with low spots where water collects. Even though we know corn needs water to thrive, too much, in this case, water pooled in low lying areas, stunted our corn yield by over half. The areas with lighter colored corn are in wet spots. Corn standing in water or wetter soil is stunted in growth because the water fills the spaces in the soil, and the roots cannot receive oxygen. This severely limits yields at the end of the season. Plus, the water runs off the field haphazardly causing eroded spots as it races to the c