Crop prospects vary dramatically across the southern Red River Valley. Gerald Nordick, who farms near Rothsay, Minnesota, said rainfall differences are showing up clearly in yield potential. “If you took a 30-mile radius, there’s corn from zero to 200 (bushels per acre),” Nordick said. “South of Highway 210, they’ve been getting rain. The farther north you go, the worse it gets. There’s corn that doesn’t even have cobs up in that area.” Planting dates also made a significant difference when extreme heat arrived during pollination. “You can have the same variety that’ll be filled to the tips and look good, and you can go someplace where it was planted three weeks different and it’s a total train wreck.”
