Cooksville, NC (WBTV) – The impending heat wave has many North Carolina farmers worried. While some crops like peaches and apples do fine in hot weather, other crops, especially corn, could be in trouble when the thermometer hits 100 degrees.
Lucas Richard has several cornfields in the Cooksville area of Lincoln County. He also has fields in Burke and Catawba Counties.
"Corn won't pollinate when it is 100 degrees" he said Thursday. One field has been without rain for weeks and is only a few feet tall. Another one has stalks 12 feet and taller but the ears are not setting. "This is a critical time for them," he said. "Hot weather will not help them."
Lucas does have one field in Catawba County that is doing fine. He shucked an ear he pulled off of one stalk and it was full of corn. "This will really be good if we can just get some rain in the next week," he said.
Most of the corn crop in the Carolinas is used for livestock feed. With the corn crop taking a hit in the mid-western United States, the price of corn feed is expected to rise and local farmers like Lucas could make a good profit this year.
"Yes, if we have bushels to sell," he said. "If the hot dry weather continues and we have no bushels then it won't matter."
Libby Yarber, Agriculture agent for the area said 100 degree weather is not good for any field crops. "The plants shut down to conserve moisture and energy,' she said. If supply of corn is affected by the weather it could have a ripple effect. It will cost more to feed cattle and those costs could be passed on. "Eventually it could affect the prices for consumers."
Farmers said there is no way to predict what shape the crops will be in after the heat wave. All they can do, they said is "hope and pray."
