MOUNT VERNON — The corn harvest is good this year, according to Steve Durbin, who with his son, Dusty, has 400 acres of corn on Stone Road, south of Mount Vernon.
Combining on Tuesday morning, Durbin said the moisture content was ideal at 19 percent.
Although good, the harvest is below last year’s outstanding yield, Steve said. The weather last summer was cool and more ideal for good harvest. He said farmers are harvesting corn early as dry weather has ripened and dried the corn. Farmers have combines in the fields combining soybeans as well as corn.
The Durbins tried a different method of planting corn this year. Instead of conventional rows, they plant two rows close together and then two more at the conventional width of 30 inches apart. The method has been used for several years but he tried it this year for the first time.
This method of planting has a better root system and larger stronger stocks, Steve said. It also gives a little better yield. The combine computer was indicating 224 bushels per acre as Dusty harvested his crop Tuesday morning with a 12-row combine.
The price of corn is good, $5 per bushel, but Durbin says, with some chagrin, the cost of fertilizer has gone up again this year after a big raise two years ago.
