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“We’ve gotten a good start to the season,” said Steve Huntzicker, agriculture agent for La Crosse County. “We have adequate moisture. Now that we’re getting some more humid, summer-like weather (this week), that’s really going to help the corn crop shoot up.”
Severe thunderstorms Thursday afternoon dropped hail on La Crosse, West Salem and Bangor, Wis.
Huntzicker said he knows of some fields damaged along Hwys. 16 and DE between West Salem and Bangor. He was visiting a farm in that area when it was struck by hail 2 to 3 inches in diameter.
“It’s real hard to say” whether the hail damage will affect yields on those farms, Huntzicker said. “It’s young yet, so it’s got the potential to grow out of it,” he said of affected corn and soybean plants.
“From what I’ve seen, I think things are in pretty good shape,” with adequate moisture, said Bill Halfman, agriculture agent for Monroe County.
Halfman said he heard reports of hail damage northwest of Sparta, Wis.
Because it was so early in the season, “corn generally speaking probably will be able to grow out of that damage without too much problem,” Halfman said. Soybean plants are more vulnerable than corn to hail damage at this time of year “and might not have fared so well,” he said.
Despite Thursday’s hail damage in this area, the Wisconsin Field Office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday that 34 percent of the state’s corn crop is in excellent condition, 54 percent in good condition, 10 percent in fair condition and 2 percent in poor condition.
The state’s soybean crop was rated 27 percent excellent, 56 percent good, 15 percent fair and 2 percent poor.
Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@lacrossetribune.com.
