There is the old saying, 'knee high by the first of July.' Farmers have long used that as a measuring stick to determine how their corn crops are faring in summer. If your corn stalks are at least knee high by July 1st, they are said to be on target for a successful harvest.

Ben Signer is a Sales Agronomist with Marc Hutlet Seeds at Ste. Anne. He says nearly every cornfield in the southeast reached knee high by July 1st. He says the only exception were those planted very late. 

"In some cases, it's shoulder high or head height," says Signer. "And actually, we had a customer send us a picture from Friday evening where he actually had some tassels emerging in his field."

Signer adds the development of corn fields is ahead of schedule in the southeast.

He notes corn loves heat and says as long as the temperature stays below about 34 degrees Celsius, the plants should be in good shape for rapid growth. Signer says corn in the area is in that rapid growth stage where it can sometimes explode from knee high to well above our head in a matter of one week.

Though it has been dry this summer, Signer says farmers in the southeast started the growing season with decent moisture. 

"In a lot of cases we've had just enough to kind of keep those plants moving along," he adds. 

Signer says there has been a bit of moisture stress with some plants showing symptoms of drought. 

Meanwhile, Signer says it has also been a great start to the growing year for soybean crops in the southeast. Because soybeans also love heat, Signer says those fields too are in fantastic shape. 

"Most of the soybean fields have started flowering, so we usually see that starting at the end of June," says Signer. "So, we're probably well ahead of average in terms of the soybean crop as well."

As for disease and insect problems, Signer says there is a little bit more grasshopper activity showing up on some soybean fields. He notes not a lot of fields have been sprayed yet for grasshoppers, but it is something they are keeping an eye on. Signer says scouting for corn borer will likely happen in the middle of July, though that is generally not a pest that growers spray for. 

Signer says every farmer they have spoken with in the last couple of weeks has said they are in okay shape but could use more rain. He wishes for a soaking rain, something he says has not happened very often over the last couple of years.

"What we don't really want is extremely heavy thunderstorms, because that's always accompanied by some plant damage," explains Signer. "If we could avoid that but have a soaking rain, that would be something that basically every farmer is asking for right now."

Signer says fields will definitely need some rain in late July and into early August to really build the yield on both the grain corn and soybean crops. However, he says "both corn and soybeans are looking really good in the first part of the season here."