Local Crops Look as Good as Much of Ohio
Nearly two weeks ago, we took a trip down to Granville, Ohio, to visit friends. Driving through Richland, Knox and Licking counties, I conducted what…
Nearly two weeks ago, we took a trip down to Granville, Ohio, to visit friends. Driving through Richland, Knox and Licking counties, I conducted what is often called a “windshield survey” of crop conditions along the way.
With highway speeds of 70 miles an hour, and I don’t usually travel quite that fast, on the interstates, one has to concentrate on driving and the highway. After we got off and started down through less traveled roads at slower speeds, I could get a better look at the countryside.
Along I-71 I didn’t see many crops that looked better than right here at home. It appeared that large areas of Ohio had experienced the same situation we had locally. It was a very wet May until about Memorial Day. Corn and soybeans were peeking through the ground with few fields showing much growth.
Further on down through Knox and Licking counties, there were some good fields of corn. Several were about 12 to 14 inches at that time. Most soybeans were up and one could see the rows. They apparently had not had much chance to grow yet.
On the way home, after a good visit with our friends and former Ashtabula County residents Bob and Jean Stoltz, we decided to take a different route. We took Route 16 northeast to Route 36 over to I-77. That took us around Coshocton and Newcomerstown on up around Dover-New Philadelphia through Canton.
Along routes 16 and 36, we drove through a beautiful valley with acres and acres of farmland with big fields. Crop conditions through that area varied. We saw some good fields of corn and beans. At different locations, there were fields standing in water and not yet planted.
As is true here locally, rainfall amounts had varied widely. Some lucky farmers got what they needed at the right time. Others were still waiting and probably very anxious about getting their seeds in the ground in time for a crop this fall.
These kinds of weather conditions are not uncommon locally as well as across the state of Ohio. Some farmers get too much rain, others maybe not enough and some just right.
Locally we can be thankful for the dry period that came a little before Memorial Day that allowed local farmers to get crops planted. In fact, we saw some corn in northern Trumbull County that looked about as good as any we saw on the trip.
One observation that one can make traveling around this area as well as other parts of Ohio is the big fields that have been planted. Estimating the number of acres in those fields is difficult, but there are a lot.
It is on those large, efficiently farmed fields that most of the food in the country is produced. Even those farms with smaller acreages, fields have been combined to make them easier to plant and harvest.
While the grow and buy locally movement is good and can provide income for those with small farms, it won’t produce the food needed to feed the nation and help other countries in the world. That food comes from the larger and efficiently-operated family farms.
We need to give much credit to those families that are willing to take the risks that go with the large family farms. They do their best to manage their farms to protect the environment and soils, but they can’t manage the weather. They have to deal with that risk if they are going to be farmers.
Parker is an independent agricultural writer.
