Grain growers survive weather

By The Associated Press

Published: November 16, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Roller-coaster weather that included a soggy spring, hurricane-induced winds and drought left grain farmers in Kentucky expecting the worst for this year’s harvest.

But when combines started rolling, some corn producers managed better-than-expected yields.

"Everybody was pleasantly surprised” by Graves County’s harvest, said Kenny Perry, agricultural extension agent in the grain-belt county.

The county’s farmers averaged 145 bushels an acre for corn and 33 bushels for soybeans, he said. That was but welcomed after a growing season that turned so dry the federal government approved aid for Kentucky farmers.

Statewide, corn yields were averaging 133 bushels an acre, slightly below the previous five-year average, according to figures from the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s Kentucky field office.

Production of corn for grain in Kentucky was forecast at 147.6 million bushels — making the 2008 crop the smallest in six years, the crop-reporting service said.

That output is down 16 percent from last year’s crop, which was massive in terms of acreage, but saw a lower average yield because of a severe drought.

Meanwhile, the Kentucky soybean crop was forecast at 47.3 million bushels, up 56 percent from 2007. Yield is projected at 34 bushels per acre, up 6 1/2 bushels from the drought-stressed 2007 crop but below the five-year average.

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