Rain Too Late for Tennessee Corn

While farmers in the corn belt continue to pray for rain, Tennessee’s agriculture industry is benefiting from July’s meteorological about-face from June.

Robert Ralph of Sumner County has a hundred head of cattle who were running out of grazing pasture.

“Made the grass grow. The animals feel so much better out in the rain and it got the creeks running a little bit.”

Ralph says he feels for the cattlemen in the Midwest having to sell off their herds. He had to do the same thing in the drought of 2007 because he couldn’t afford to feed his cows.

Rain totals have surpassed six inches in many areas, even a foot in one part of Wilson County. But the precipitation came too late for some. Ronnie Barron is the extension agent in Cheatham County and says the corn crop “suffered irreversible” losses. However, Barron says soybeans and tobacco have made “drastic improvements.”