SUAMICO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Some area farmers are grateful after much of the area received multiple inches of rain over the weekend.
At Blaser’s Acres in Suamico, owner Chris Blaser says the weather runs the place.
“You just follow along and hope for the best,” Blaser said.
This year, Blaser tells FOX 11 he’s seen a bit of everything.
“It’s been freezing, it’s been 90 for multiple days in a row. We’ve had no rain, we irrigated everyday, all day. And now last week right here in Suamico we got five inches for the week.”
Blaser said the weekend rain was necessary.
“Strawberries didn’t fair too well because we are coming on the end of the season, and the rain definitely on ripe berries takes a beating on them. Everything else though it was an absolute must. Not five inches, but we needed a couple inches to make the corn make ears and everything.”
Blaser says he’d like to see a dry week looking ahead.
Kevin Jarek, UW Division of Extension crops and soils agent in Outagamie County, tells FOX 11 some call last week’s precipitation a million dollar rain, especially for corn.
“If we look at the potential increase in corn yield here, just in Outagamie County, it can easily add or preserve 20 to 25 bushels, and when we look at planting over 50,000 acres of corn, that’s an additional 1 million more bushels of corn. When we look at the value of corn, just under 6 dollars a bushel, that’s significant, it’s five to six million dollars.”
Jarek says the extra rain will help, but ideally, he would like to see about an inch of rain per week during the rest of the growing season to maximize the potential yield of all crops.
With more rain in the forecast, Blaser says as long as it doesn’t get too wet, his crops are in good shape.
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