GARNETT — Although areas of Anderson County received around an inch of rain this weekend, it was probably too little, too late for corn. Anderson County Extension agent Shannon Blocker told the Anderson County Review the county’s corn crop has been blasted by a series of 100-degree-plus days earlier this month. The heat came at a critical time during the corn’s development, she said. The county’s soybeans have also been damaged by the heat but the rains may help save some of the beans, she said. East central Kansas needs at least another five inches of rain to recover from drought conditions, Kansas state climatologist Mary Knapp said. Blocker says farmers are deciding what to do with their corn. They should be careful about grazing cattle in corn fields until they test it for nitrates she said. Many used nitrate fertilizer on their corn and because of the heat, the corn didn’t properly use it and nitrate levels could be too high for cattle to eat the corn, she said.
Tuesday, July 26, 11 a.m.
