{"id":34103,"date":"2024-08-15T15:46:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=34103"},"modified":"2024-08-15T15:46:00","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T20:46:00","slug":"texas-heat-texas-corn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wlbott.com\/?p=34103","title":{"rendered":"Texas Heat \/ Texas Corn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The same year that the Elders <\/strong>gathered in Snook, Texas<\/strong> to consume chicken fried bacon, a terrible wildfire scorched Bastrop State Park (September and October 2011).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bastrop County Complex fire<\/strong> was a conflagration that engulfed parts of Bastrop County, Texas, in September and October 2011. The wildfire was the costliest and most destructive wildfire in Texas history and among the costliest in U.S. history<\/strong>, destroying 1,696 structures and causing an estimated $350 million in insured property damage. An exceptional drought, accompanied by record-high temperatures, affected Texas for much of 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\nWikipedia<\/a> \/ photo By Tim Patterson – https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/timpatterson\/6118388499\/sizes\/o\/in\/photostream\/, CC BY-SA 2.0, By NASA – http:\/\/lance.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov\/wms\/, Public Domain, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=16352833
By The National Guard – Flickr: Texas National Guard fight wildfire, CC BY 2.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=16385072<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
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The Drought<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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The 2010\u20132013 Southern United States and Mexico drought was a severe to extreme drought that plagued the Southern United States, including parts of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, and Oklahoma; the Southwestern States, including Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona; as well as large parts of Mexico, in a three-year pattern from 2010 to 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The worst effects were in Texas, which experienced the brunt of the drought and its driest August\u2013July (12-month) period on record<\/strong> from 2010 to 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drought caused billions of dollars in losses throughout the state economy. Farmers and ranchers were among those hardest hit. The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service estimates that Texas agricultural producers lost nearly $7.6 billion due to the drought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drought and unprecedented heat made 2011 the worst year for wildfires in Texas history.<\/p>\nWikipedia<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Jeff Goodell, in his book The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet<\/strong>, talks with a south Texas farmer about a drought-ravaged corn field:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But there wasn\u2019t much corn, however pathetic and scraggly it may have been, for Dineen to harvest. The stalks were only five feet tall at most, compared with six to seven feet normally. \u201cYields are fifty percent of an average year,\u201d he said. \u201cWe might get fifty bushels per acre,\u201d which was far below the usual 100 to 110 bushels.<\/p>\nThe Heat Will Kill You First<\/strong> \/ Magic Valley \/ Page 119<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Corn yields vary considerably based on location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Illinois.edu<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Corn is a traveler of both time and space. The yields have increased dramatically over time, thanks to availability of fertilizer, hybrid strains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Illinois.edu<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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https:\/\/passel2.unl.edu\/view\/lesson\/c3ded390efbf\/7<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Rapid adoption of double-cross hybrid corn<\/strong> by American growers began in the late 1930\u2019s, in the waning years of the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Within a very few years, the national yield statistics indicated that the first \u201cmiracle\u201d<\/strong> of corn grain yield improvement had occurred. The annual rate of yield improvement, which heretofore had been about zero, increased to about 0.8 bushels per acre per year from about 1937 through about 1955. This dramatic improvement in yield potential must have seemed like a miracle to American farmers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The second \u201cmiracle\u201d<\/strong> of corn grain yield improvement began in the mid-1950\u2019s in response to continued improvements in genetic yield potential and stress tolerance plus increased adoption of N fertilizer, chemical pesticides, and agricultural mechanization<\/strong>. The annual rate of corn yield improvement more than doubled to about 1.9 bushels per acre per year and has continued at that steady rate ever since, sustained primarily by continued improvements in genetics and crop production technologies.<\/p>\nPurdue.edu<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Some Rough Economics \/ Back of the Envelope<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Let’s use $4.40<\/strong> \/ bushel for corn. The reason we picked 440 is because that’s the number of yards in a quarter mile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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MacroTrends.net<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The University of Kentucky<\/strong> has a straight-forward chart of the basic economics of corn farming. Note that the chart uses an optimistic yield and price per bushel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How much corn is in a bushel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • 2150.42 cubic inches<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 1.24446 cubic feet<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 56 pounds (standardized)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Farmers once sold their corn by filling bushel baskets, but now use an agreed-upon standard of 56 pounds\/bushel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    A bushel <\/strong>of corn typically contains about 70 to 80 ears<\/strong> of corn. However, the exact number can vary depending on the size and variety of the corn, as well as how tightly it is packed in the bushel.<\/p>\nQuora<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n