Field Check: Exceptional rainfall this spring and early summer has given the corn crop a boost and the pivot some time off at Paige Clawson's farm near Satanta, Kan. The downfall to all that rain: There's still wheat to harvest.
The summer of 2025 is likely going to be one farmers in Southwest Kansas talk about for quite some time.
This week’s Kansas Farmer Field Check takes us to Satanta, Kan., and an irrigated corn field of the Clawson family. It’s June 24, and Paige Clawson reports not only are they still cutting wheat, but except for a few brief turns to apply some chemigation, the pivots have been off over their corn. That’s thanks to about 9.72 inches of moisture that have fallen over the past 120 days, according to the Kansas Mesonet, as well as a good soil profile of moisture held over from last fall and winter.
According to the USDA-NASS Crop Progress Report for the week ending June 22, topsoil moisture supplies across the state were rated 79 percent adequate to surplus, and subsoil moisture supplies were rated at 71 percent adequate to surplus.
It’s a point where farmers don’t know what to pray for—for the rain to ease up so they can get in the wheat field to cut, or for it to keep falling for the corn crop that’s off to the races. The USDA-NASS Crop Report has just 20 percent of the winter wheat crop in the state harvested, well behind the 49 percent of last year and the 31 percent average for the same time frame.
Satanta lies right over the heart of the Ogallala Aquifer, and in the midst of irrigation country. Clawson says they may have saved about 5 inches of applied water with these recent rains. That’s almost half of the typical applied irrigation amount for corn. The Crop Report rates corn condition across the state at 20 percent fair, 53 percent good and 12 percent excellent.
And, if you’ve got a crop report to share, email Jennifer.Latzke@farmprogress.com.
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