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2021 the year of “haves” and “have nots”
2021 is shaping up to be a year of extremes with many parts of the Corn Belt dealing with either far too much or far too little moisture.
Central Minnesota farmer Brian Thalmann says after a hot dry June, his area received around 2 inches at the beginning of July.
“But there’s areas not too far from me that had less than that, and there’s areas that’ve had 4 to 5 inches in that time. We’ve made it this far (and) have pretty consistent tasseling going on, but it’s going to take about an inch of rain a week all the way through August I think to reach optimum yield.”
He tells Brownfield the weather volatility makes grain marketing more of a challenge.
“I think the one point of caution that growers here in Minnesota in the dryer areas need to take into account is that you look out your back door and think that’s what the whole Corn Belt is facing, and that’s not necessarily the case.”
The National Corn Growers Association board member says while farmers in the Upper Midwest deal with drought conditions, there’s been too much moisture in states like Missouri and Illinois.