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Snow blankets one fifth of local corn crop

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First Snowstorm of 2009

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It was the most expensive corn crop local producers ever have planted.

And a fifth of it is sitting under more than a foot of heavy, wet snow.

According to U. S. Department of Agriculture data, only 80 percent of field corn was harvested in south central Wisconsin as of Monday. That's the region that includes Rock County.

Only 78 percent of the corn has been harvested in the southeast region, which includes Walworth County, according to the data.

Last year, 100 percent of Wisconsin's corn crop was harvested by this time.

"In almost every year, we're done by now," said Jim Stute, UW Extension's crops and soils agent for Rock County. "Usually by Thanksgiving, all but a few lingerers have the corn out."

A slow growing season combined with a damp fall caused corn to mature slowly, Stute said. That also meant the corn's moisture content was much higher than it needs to be for safe storage, he said.

Many producers were forced to dry the corn manually before storing it. Because of the high quantity of wet corn, that created a bottleneck at driers on farms and grain elevators, alike.

Aside from the hassle, drying corn is expensive. Some producers made the choice to leave their corn in the fields and let it dry until spring.

Others just ran out of time, Stute said.

It's not unprecedented for farmers to leave corn in the field and harvest it in spring, Stute said.

But it's risky.

This week's storm dumped 12.7 inches of snow on Janesville. Many residents were without power after the heavy snow broke tree limbs and snapped power lines.

The snow seemed particularly wet in Rock County, Alliant Energy spokesman Scott Reigstad said.

Late Wednesday night, Alliant Energy had 2,850 customers still without power after Wednesday's storm. Of those, 2,050 were in Rock County, he said.

That indicated that Rock County got some of the heaviest, wettest snow in the state, Reigstad said.

If it was enough to take down trees, imagine how cornstalks felt.

Also, the cornrows act like acres of snow fences, Stute said. The snow piles up between rows where it gets in the way of farm equipment and acts as an insulator for the soil.

"With this insulating barrier of snow, the frost will come out of the ground," Stute said. "It's going to get really squishy."

After the storm, Stute saw a snowplow sink to its axles as it tried to push snow across a ditch.

"The same thing's going to happen with harvest equipment," he said.

So, now what?

That's been a common question at the extension office, Stute said.

Whatever corn is in the fields will be there for the immediate future, Stute said. The snow will have to melt and the ground will have to firm up before machinery can get back in the fields, he said.

It is possible that the corn will withstand the winter and be harvestable in spring, Stute said.

"It does work with the right conditions," Stute said. "Wisconsin is basically a desert in the winter with the cold, dry air."

Like many situations in production agriculture, producers will just have to wait and see what happens to the last 20 percent of the corn crop, Stute said.

That's not easy considering the fact that the cost of planting and raising the corn was higher last spring than ever before, he said. Inputs such as fuel, labor and particularly fertilizer were at record highs, he said.

"If they pre-bought fertilizer or even bought it in season, it was still a lot higher than what we've ever seen before," Stute said. "That's a lot of money standing there."