It hasn’t been an ideal summer for sunbathers, swimmers and other creatures who prefer hot, dry weather. But at least it’s been easy on the ears.
Ears of corn, that is.
While farmers have struggled to plant and harvest crops and dry out their hay for baling, the wet weather has been favorable for corn.
“Our sweet corn crop is very good this year,” said Scott Simmons, co-owner of Simmons Farm in McMurray. “A kind of year like this I’ll take anytime for corn.
ST. LOUIS – A deepening drought in the nation’s farm states has cut further into this fall’s harvest, with farmers now expected to pull from their fields the lowest corn yield in more than a decade.
But American farmers are still expected to produce their eighth-largest harvest ever, and while there’s sure to be a rise in prices at the grocery stores, there’s little risk of a failed harvest that would lead to shortages on the shelves.
The U.S. Agriculture Department predicted the nation’s biggest harvest ever in the spring, when farmers planted 96.4 million acres of corn – the most since 1937. But it cut its estimate a month ago and again Friday, saying it now expects the nation to produce 10.8 billion bushels, the least since 2006.
Read more: http://business-news.thestreet.com/the-mercury/story/us-farmers-expect-poorest-corn-crop-decade-0/1
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