Advice seeks to prep farmers for winter months
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Area producers listen to seed providers share insight during the annual test plot tour north of Hampton on Aug. 30.
As the days start to grow cooler and shorter it is a signal that harvest is on the horizon. To help prep farmers for end-of-season irrigation, Steve Melvin, irrigated cropping system Extension educator, spoke last week at the Hamilton County Corn Growers test plot tour.
“Irrigation is my specialty and so I want to talk a little bit about the end of the season,” he began. “This is some data that the NRD acquired that basically is a log of the soil water content. There are farmers in these areas that require them to have a log where they recorded all summer.”
Analyzing the data, he found that during the last part of the summer they can see the soil dry out. Farmers can use up to 40 percent of the water in the soil, down to four feet in the profile without reducing yield.
“The idea is that during August and into September that your field should be getting dryer,” he said. “There is a 15-20 inch area down below the surface where you should try to use some of that water.”
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