Aug. 25, 2022 Jim Hershey standing with his corn field planted in late May. Despite the general green appearance of the crop, cobs are smaller than usual and missing about half of their kernels due to a lack of rain during the corn's pollination season.

Aug. 25, 2022 A corn cob on Hershey Farms. The lack of rain in the area has led to corn aborting kernels and cobs remaining partially bare.

Aug. 25, 2022 Corn fields planted on Hershey Farms in April and early May. The stalks are firing, browning from the root up, due to a lack of rain.

Aug. 25, 2022 Jim Hershey holding a soybean pod that should have three beans but could only produce one due to a lack of rain.

Aug. 25, 2022 Jim Hershey standing with his corn field planted in late May. Despite the general green appearance of the crop, cobs are smaller than usual and missing about half of their kernels due to a lack of rain during the corn's pollination season.

Grain needs rain, and precipitation has been sparse this year.

Jim Hershey hasn’t seen consistent rain in Elizabethtown since May, and the crops have suffered.

In a normal year, Hershey, his family and employees would harvest in early to mid-October, aiming to be done by Thanksgiving. The process takes four to five weeks with two full-time employees and some part-time help.

This year, Hershey predicts the crew will need to harvest two to three weeks earlier, and he doesn’t expect to get anywhere near his normal per-acre production.

“Last year, we averaged 220-some bushels of corn. This year, I’m hoping we have better than half a crop, but I’m not sure it’s going to be that good,” he said.

Hershey — who farms with wife Shirley, their son, Marc, and daughter-in-law, Crystal — grows corn, soybeans and wheat on about 600 acres during the spring and summer, and cover crops through the end of fall and winter.

The Hersheys do another 600 acres of custom crop work for other farmers, and raise organic broiler chickens and wean-to-finish hogs.

The soybean and corn crops are used for animal feed (not for the organic broilers), and the wheat is sent to Snavely’s Mill in Warwick Township for human consumption.

Hershey has sold most of his grain before it’s even harvested. He spends time throughout the year contracting his grain, waiting for peaks in the market and securing agreements. He’ll contract a year out, with some of his current grain set to sell in 2023.

To ensure that he doesn’t over-contract, Hershey holds 10% to 15% of his estimated harvest. He holds contracted grain waiting to go out and grain not yet contracted on the farm in drying facilities and storage bins.

Start time for harvest is based on the crop’s moisture content. For the corn, a testing instrument should indicate 23-25% grain moisture. Soybeans are harvested at 15%.

Plant moisture content has visible cues too. Hershey said the entire corn stalks will be dry near harvest time, signaling the plant is mature and ready to be cut.

Corn stalks should still be green through early September. This year, the crops started maturing too quickly, being nearly dry before the month arrived.

Stalks are also firing, which means the plant is drying from the root up instead of all at once.

Aug. 25, 2022 Corn fields planted on Hershey Farms in April and early May. The stalks are firing, browning from the root up, due to a lack of rain.

“The plants are not healthy because they’re working so hard to put energy into kernels that they’re giving up their stalk quality,” Hershey said.

Another sign of early maturation in the corn crop this year is drooping cobs. From late August to early September of a healthy year, the cobs should mostly be upright, Hershey said.

Other evidence of this year’s drought-like conditions may not be visible without a closer look at the grain. Fields that appear green are producing cobs that are smaller than usual and missing kernels.

Aug. 25, 2022 A corn cob on Hershey Farms. The lack of rain in the area has led to corn aborting kernels and cobs remaining partially bare.

Likewise, the soybean crop has pods that should house three beans but can only grow one. Other pods are completely aborted and will remain empty.

Aug. 25, 2022 Jim Hershey holding a soybean pod that should have three beans but could only produce one due to a lack of rain.

Hershey, the president of the Pennsylvania No-Till Alliance, has practiced no-till farming for more than 30 years and has been cover cropping for more than 15.

He also plants green for soybeans and corn, meaning he doesn’t kill the cover crop until after the cash crop is planted. The practice promotes soil health and cool soil temperatures, and Hershey said the moisture retained in the soil as a result helped some of his plants grow this summer despite the shortage of rain.

After harvest, Hershey will spend the remainder of the fall planting winter wheat and cover crops.

A lack of rain has been the theme this summer in Pennsylvania, so it may come as no surprise to farmers that projected corn and soybean yields won’t be above average.

Spotty rainfall throughout much of Pennsylvania is forcing farmers to make some difficult decisions with their silage harvest.

The Pennsylvania Drought Task Force declared a drought watch for 36 counties during a special meeting on Aug. 31.

Rebecca Schweitzer is the markets editor at Lancaster Farming. She can be reached at rschweitzer@lancasterfarming.com

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