by Carrie Davenport, Georgian View Ag Services Ltd. – Pioneer Seed Dealer
What incredible weather October and early November have been! There have been more t-shirt days and more spraying done in these fall months than I can remember around this time in the last few years. Let’s hope we get more harvests like this one in the future!
When reviewing corn and soybean yields for Grey County this year, there is some variability but overall we have had excellent yields. Many have been shocked with the corn yields with the limitations of moisture, so I thought we should take a look at this further in detail. Please see the graph below, I have used my own location (between Rockford and Bognor) as an example for the precipitation and timelines received. You will notice in the precipitation graph that we were well below our 10 year average for cumulative moisture during the growing season, but there is consistent rainfall throughout the end of May until late August. It should also be noted that when these periodic rainfalls occurred, they hit our critical corn development stages that helped determine the final yield for corn. Labeled below in red are these stages.

V3-V7: After 5 leaf until typically 7 leaf the potential number of kernel rows are being determined. Any sort of stress during this timing will decrease the yield potential.
V9-VT: The number of kernels per row are determined during this time until VT. The minimal but periodic July rains supported this development.
VT-R1: Moisture during tasseling and early silking was critical for why we saw incredible tip fill this year. This is when reproduction occurs and decides whether a viable kernel will develop on the cob. If there is minimal moisture and/or significant heat during this time, it could force early pollen to drop prior to silk emergence. This would cause a significant decline in viable grain at harvest. Thankfully we were fortunate with the rain received at this crop stage. This was CRITICAL to our 2022 yields.
R2-R3: Kernel fill happens during this stage. Lack of moisture or stress can cause kernel abortion thus we maintained our yield potential with the lack of stress.
While digesting the 2022 growing season and coming to the tail end of harvest, now is really the time to get organized and begin crop plans for 2023. I am sure many of you have your routines with this and have already started planning but here are a few things to make sure are on your list when getting focused on a new cropping year:

• Rotation plans – field by field which crop is planning to go where
• Soil sampling – 3 year program
• Collecting historical data for each farm – yields, crop removal rates, fertility program used in the past, tillage, value of N from prev crop ex. red clover, manure history etc.
• Local data – hybrid/variety yields
• Pinpointing yield potential for each farm and setting goals
• Fertility plans – yield potential and economics – needs to be field by field

Just like every growing season, moisture and temperatures are out of our control but positioning the crop to maximize its yield potential is everyone’s goal. Finding the potential while managing the risks are what we are trying to fine tune and discover every growing season!
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity”- Seneca
Carrie Davenport