Frost has hit many parts of the Northern plains and the Corn Belt already and snow is following. On Monday, snow storms pushed across the Northern plains and into the Northern Corn Belt leaving some areas with 1-3 inches of snow. Luckily, the growing season had been decent prior to the early frost and snow.

Jeff Coulter, corn specialist at the University of Minnesota, said that this early frost and snow shouldn’t hurt the corn too much since most of the corn is in or past the half-milk stage, “A hard killing frost at the half-milk stage could reduce final grain yield by 8 to 12 percent; however, the impact of frost on corn yield decreases as the crop gets closer to maturity. Corn is mature when there is no visible milk line and a black layer is present just under the tip of the kernel. For corn that is nearly mature, a killing frost will have little impact on grain yield.”

Corn and soybeans will have to dry out in the fields until farmers can access the fields since heavy rains last week made field access almost impossible in many areas. Corn will dry at a rate of .5% to .25% in the first half of October and roughly .33% in the second half, according to U of M Extension.

In corn, a light frost will decrease yields by 5% while a heavy frost, lasting 5-6 hours, will decrease yields by roughly 10%, according to Farm Journal’s Rachel Duff. In Minnesota’s case, it has seen frost for over a week.

Solution

Since farmers cannot control certain uncontrollable variables, like weather, they must try to prepare for them. At this stage, farmers must wait out this weather until conditions allow for harvest. This requires adequate field access and acceptable moisture levels of their crops. Once crops have been harvested, dryers will dry corn down to lower moisture levels where storage is safer.

Coulter says the final step for farmers this year will be for them to find better hybrid seeds that best suit their area. Certain hybrid strains can mature quicker while reducing yield minimally so farmers can get the most out of their crop come frost, snow, and the harvest season.

Outlook

Can this premature snow affect grain prices? While the USDA’s WASDE report was released last Friday, data of record crops and yields may not be valid anymore. Grain prices will increase since the supply could decrease. While the correlation is not precise; when grain prices increase, farmland values increase as well. When grain prices hit record highs in 2008, farmland prices did as well.

Corn, soybeans, and wheat prices all increased on the CBOT on Monday.

-Colvin