Heavy rain brings wheat harvest to a crawl in Maryland

Temple Rhodes struggles to get his wheat harvest done as test weight and quality fall.

Temple Rhodes - Centreville, Maryland

Temple Rhodes is a fifth-generation farmer in Centreville, Maryland. Chestnut Manor Farms includes a no-till farming operation of 3,000 acres of soybeans, 1,500 acres of corn, and 1,500 acres of wheat. His family operation revolves around commodity crops as well as a full-scale hunting business.

In the past week we have gotten 5 inches of rain in a span of 7 days so it has put us behind on cutting wheat. We started cutting on June 17 and we still have not finished due to the wet conditions.

Every day that goes by that it rains the test weight on our wheat drops. At the end of the day, we sell pounds instead of bushels. We have lost 6 pounds of our test weight everyday which means we have lost 10% of our yield. The quality of wheat is also going down. Our wheat fallen numbers were 340 to 345 and now they are down to the low 200s. Once they are under 200, it is no longer flour mill quality wheat. Now it’s feed mill quality. It is a dramatic reduction in profit when you sell feed mill quality instead of flour mill quality.

The ground is so wet that we are also behind on no till beans, our double crops beans. We are at least a week out until we can get the planters out in the field. Everywhere in our area we lose about ½ of a bushel of soybeans since July 4th. It is a constant struggle. Our corn and beans define needed the rain, but the weather is really putting us in a real crunch when it comes to getting our wheat out of the field.

Chad Henderson - Madison, Alabama

Chad Henderson is part of a fifth-generation farming operation in Madison, Alabama. Henderson Farms operates over 8,000 acres of dryland and irrigated corn, dryland soybeans, wheat, and dryland and irrigated double-crop soybeans. When not farming, Chad can be found carrying on another proud family tradition as a drag racer for Henderson Racing.

The first corn we planted in March is one good rain away from producing an above average crop. Right now, we are a little below average due to the rain we have received. If we could get one more rain this week I think we have a very good chance of getting that great crop. The irrigated corn is looking good. 

Our regular season April planted soybeans have just had their fungicide applied. They are on the same schedule as the corn. The double crop soybeans are starting to come up through the straw and they’re looking nice and green. We finished our spraying, and we are just waiting to put our next fungicide and fertility pass on.

The late August to September corn harvest is right around the corner so be sure to have your grain bins ready to go! We’ve been cleaning up the bins and the dryer from wheat to ensure everything is ready to go come corn harvest. 

Matt Miles - McGehee, Arkansas

Matt Miles is a fourth-generation farmer in southeast Arkansas who grows corn, soybeans, rice, and cotton.

“Coast mode” with an umbrella would be how I would describe the situation in Arkansas this week. There have been very few times we weren’t irrigating cotton by the week of the July 4th. This has definitely been one of those times. 

Staying wet is kind of a double-edged sword. We save lots of money and precious groundwater when not pumping, but the tradeoff is wet, cloudy conditions which block good photosynthesis. Fortunately, a majority of the crops in the Delta are close to maturity. We do have double crop soybeans, and for the first time, a double crop corn field, that need a little more sun. 

With harvest just around the corner we are finally seeing a glimpse of what the crop could be. It looks very promising. We had a milder pollination season on corn and blooming season on the beans, which is showing lots of promise. If rounds, length, and pod counts hold, we should have an above average corn and soybean crop. Hopefully the sun will shine a little more and hurricanes will be avoided to make all these dreams come true. Next time I report back, I could have some combines close to the field.

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