Agents: Diseases Hurt Tobacco; Corn Looking Generally Good

Source from:  Kentucky By SCOTT BURNSIDE sburnside@kentuckynewera.com 08/19/2004

Farmers are nearing the end of the corn and tobacco growing seasons with reports on corn somewhat unclear and tobacco quality marginal. Most of the corn is in the midst of the drying stage, but many farmers are cutting their tobacco crops and preparing it for drying in barns, local agriculture agents say. "Right now, we look like we're going to have a really, really good corn crop with only a few holes reported in some of the wet spots," Christian County extension agent Jay Stone said. "We're really going to see some increases in some areas." Much of the corn is still in the field with the exception of some of the acreage devoted to silage crops for feeding animals. "During the last couple of weeks we have a quite a bit of work with the silage corn," said Curt Judy, the extension agent in Todd County. Christian and Todd counties are the major corn producers in west Kentucky. Christian County produced an estimated 75,000 acres. Todd County had 45,000 acres. Trigg County has 21,000 acres; Caldwell County's total is 25,000 acres. Judy pointed out the average bushel-per-acre yield for this area last year was 144. He expects some of the crop that suffered through early wet stages might fall back to 140 this year. The Trigg County corn report might be better than that prediction, extension agent Jason P'Pool said. "It's going to be from good to excellent," said P'Pool. "If anything, we had too much moisture." P'Pool had a somewhat better report on the tobacco reports from Trigg County. "We're cutting in the field at full strength. Some has been topped and it looks like it's going to be good to excellent." The reports from Christian and Todd counties are not as positive, although the report isn't totally gloomy. There have been some reports of black shank and blue mold diseases in both counties, according to Judy. "I don't think the weight (of the tobacco) is going to be what it was in other years, plus some was sun-scalded," Judy said. The 2003 estimates for burley tobacco acreage for the area counties are Christian County, 1,410 acres; Todd County, 545; Caldwell County, 340; and Trigg County, 390. Other tobacco crops planted include dark-fired tobacco and dark air-cured tobacco. Judy also pointed out that some of the prices on these crops (including corn) have come down which recently had been at a dramatically high price. Enditem