A combination of fungus and this week’s stormy weather is ravaging crops.

We first told you about tar spot on Monday.

It has been devasting to farmers.

“Going into this, this should have been one of the best crops the guy has ever raised in to see it now flat,” said Marc Eads, farming consultant. “There’s an emotional toll that does get paid with this.

It’s been a tough week for Marc Eads working with his farmers. In field after field, he has seen sections, if not the whole crop flattened. It was a fear he had knowing just how weak the corn has become due to the tar spot infection.

Treated fields, he says, will be stronger, but even crops that over produced will weaken themselves in the end. The fungus alone, he said, will cost farmers, but downed corn stalks is another sucker punch.

“I know one grower in particular he’s probably losing 80 bushel an acre. So I have five bucks we’re looking at $400 an acre.”

That’s a loss that he knows some can’t take.

“That really hurts as we look in particular to 2022 and how much the 2021 crop was going to financing 2022. where we may be farming for a loss, best case scenario break even.”

In a consistent race against Mother Nature, Eads says what is still standing will remain at risk until it’s harvested.

“They kind of form their own shelterbelts within the field. So were you see this corn is down now that’s not offering any protection for the rest of the corn.”

And soon Mother Nature may add another wrinkle.

“If these fields are flattened, get a snowfall on it which it’s snowing in other parts of the country right now, if it gets a snowfall it can make the loss even more dramatic.”

Eads says it’s been very difficult on his farmers knowing how much investment goes into these crops. While some of this can still be salvaged, downed plants will take even more time to be harvested, prolonging the risk.

Source - https://wsbt.com