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SE Minnesota farmer enjoying excellent corn crop

A southeast Minnesota farmer says his corn looks as good as it ever has.

Ed McNamara tells Brownfield he finished side-dressing nitrogen earlier this month, and ensuing rains moved the N down into the root system.

“We haven’t had a lot of gully-washers, but the ground is saturated, so there are some puddles in areas where there’s some compaction on the headlands.”

The Goodhue County farmer says spring delays were offset by record heat in May that pushed corn out of the ground less than a week after planting.

“It never stopped (growing), and the fact that we hit those 90 (degree) days and 100 on Memorial Day weekend…that ground really warmed up and really got the (corn) popping out of the ground fast.”

McNamara says corn in his area is above knee-high and will probably be about waist high by the Fourth of July.