Ohio farmers rebound, plant record corn

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Ohio has a record corn crop in the ground as farmers have recovered from a cold, wet spring that delayed planting.

Many farmers were able to do all their planting during four warm, dry days in June, said Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association spokeswoman Natalie Lehner. As a result, U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates show Ohio has an all-time high 3.5 million acres planted with corn, up from 3.45 million acres last year.

“That is amazing considering how late farmers started planting this year,” Lehner told The Columbus Dispatch.

Though farmers don’t expect a record level of corn grown per acre, they do believe yields could at least be average, the newspaper reported Friday.

The Agriculture Department said farmers nationwide have put in the second-largest corn crop in nearly seven decades. Record-high prices for corn have encouraged farmers to use more acres for the crop and less for soybeans and wheat.

“Thirty years ago, this would not have been an option,” Mark Wachtman, president of the Ohio growers association, told The Dispatch. “Technology, such as using GPS to guide planting, allows us to plant quickly and do it right the first time.