WOOD COUNTY, Ohio — As the calendar turns to November, many area farmers still have a lot of work to do picking corn.
While the growing season is generally complete by late October, no two years are ever the same. This year's crops are about two weeks behind schedule, local farmers said.
Why? The smoke from Canadian wildfires that blanketed our region and many others earlier in the summer affected this year's crops, they said.
The wildfire smoke hit corn in this region during the critical pollination period, which pushed back development of the plants, farmers said.
Most of the corn grown in Ohio is the type used to feed livestock or make ethanol products, said Stacie Anderson, who farms in Wood County with her husband, Brian.
That wildfire smoke affected the sunshine and heat the corn needed to reach maturity by late October, she said.
"With that smoke coming in, it set the plants back and those growing degree units behind without the sunshine without the heat to get it to maturity,” she said.
After several mid-summer weeks of wildfire smoke, our region's air cleared and heat and sunshine returned, helping the corn to continue growing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported it expects Ohio will have record yields this year with an anticipated 195 bushels an acre.
"Farmers are scientists and farmers understand the science around growing corn," Anderson said. "So they know the investment it takes to do that, like controlling weeds and controlling pests and taking care of their soil -- doing what they need to do to feed our world."
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