Farmers and ag watchers waiting for corn to “knee high”

BY AMY ROBINSON

This Thursday is the age old agricultural benchmark; as most of us have heard the adage that the corn should be “knee high by the 4th of July.” Crop experts said this year it likely will be.

Many field crops, things like corn and soybeans, were planted late this year. Farmers were waiting out cool weather and then a very wet spring.

But the past warm week has done wonders for crop growth, said Paul Gross, he’s a field crop educator with the Isabella county Cooperative Extension service.

He said corn is back on track, but there’s still a lot of summer left, and farmers aren’t counting on a good harvest until it’s in.

The always said the corn crop is made in July. They say soybeans are made in August. So you know. We still have everything ahead of us yet.

Gross said rainfall this summer is running far above average, and he hopes precipitation continues consistently for the next two months.