Endless Summer

Today's topic is the '24 growing season. The calendar said October 7th while the thermometer said August 15th on my late afternoon bike ride last week. Welcome to the new abnormal. It was another year of extremes.

GDU (growing degree unit) accumulation through 10/1 was 3,000, 350 units above normal. In the last six weeks alone, GDU accumulation exceeded average by 160 units. This was beneficial to corn dry down, as much of the crop was planted late and lagging in maturity. Long term forecasts suggest the warm, dryish weather will continue. There has been a dramatic increase in our growing season the last few years. The historical average "first frost" date for the McIntire area was September 20 in 2010. The average first frost for the last ten years is October 2, nearly two weeks later. 

We start recording rainfall when the first seeds get planted. Between April 9th, and through the end of August, our farms received approximately 30" of precipitation. Bruns in western Fillmore Co set the bar with 31.75". Garden, three miles north of Elma, was the outlier with a mere 23.15". Every other location fell between 27.5” and 31.5". For comparison, last year's average across all farms was 10". If you add both together and divide by two you would be close to perfect. Since 9/1 we have had no meaningful rainfall.

Going into this growing season, we were concerned last season's dryness would continue. Like a coiled spring poised to unravel, nature unleashed two growing seasons worth of water in one. As it hasn't rained since 9/1, conditions are again trending towards drought. Despite the roller coaster weather, yields are excellent when we make all the right decisions. At the same time, proven practices that worked in the recent past can lead to extremely disappointing results. In this volatile weather regime, developing a crop plan that delivers top yields requires equal parts luck and skill. 

There is one weather prediction I am willing to make. Summer-like mid-Autumn days will occur with greater frequency for the foreseeable future. Plan accordingly.

Jim

Rain gauge at Nelson West on 6/24. We had another widespread 4” rainfall event 8/30. These do more harm than good.