Sausser Farms Says We Won’t Get Any Corn This Year

When signing up for the Sausser Farms Co-op, I was told that I’d get 12 ears of corn each week during corn season. Homestead Creamery stated that their vegetables would include 12 ears with each share box, too.

There was a notice on the [Sausser Farms website](http://www.sausserfarms.com “Sausser Farms”) stating that we won’t get any corn this year because the corn crop died due to the heat and the lack of rain.

The corn is toast! The high heat and lack of rain have put an end to the corn. We had to plow under 15 acres of corn. While we use drip irrigation on just about all of our other produce, we don’t with the corn. We are extremly dissapointed about losing all that corn.

It has been hot and dry, but some local farmers have had corn. Magnolia Market in Buena Vista [announced on July 2nd](http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=135337883146115&ref=ts#!/group.php?gid=110242532321363&v=wall&story_fbid=139765782702371&ref=mf “Magnolia Market”) that a local had dropped off some corn. [This week](http://blogs.roanoke.com/sosalem/2010/07/14/lots-of-fresh-produce-on-the-salem-farmers-market/), local farmers at the Salem Farmers Market have sweet corn available. Several local farmers had sweet corn available at the Roanoke Farmers market on [July 1st](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roanoke-VA/The-Historic-City-Market/42393313870#!/video/video.php?v=898989959813&ref=mf). The Charlottesville city market has had corn since at least [June 24th](http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charlottesville-VA/Charlottesville-City-Market/90079662898). An [article in the Madison County Eagle](http://www2.madison-news.com/mce/news/local/article/mc_farmers_fight_weather/58233/#When:19:00:19Z) on July 15th said that “the corn still looks beautiful and soy beans do too.”

It sounds like Sausser Farms’ corn was planted late. If they were planning to provide us with corn each week of the corn season, shouldn’t they have staggered their plantings?

According to an [article at N.C. State](http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/plymouth/cropsci/docs/late_planted_corn.html), the period from July 1st to July 20th is most likely to be dry and hot in Virginia and North Carolina, and corn should be planted so that silking occurs at least a week after this period.

Long-term weather records show that the period from 1 July to 20 July is the most likely to experience lower rainfall amounts, higher average temperatures, and high humidity. Therefore, late-planted corn should be planted so that silking occurs at least a week after the end of this period. When using an early maturing hybrid, growers should plant from 10 June until 25 June to avoid this period and still have a reasonable harvest date. After 25 June, the reduced number of growing degree days will result in a severe delay in harvest with an increasing chance of freeze damage before the crop matures.