In The Corn Belt, Eyes Are Peeled For Mycotoxin Damage After Endless, Wet Harvest Of 2009

[hatrack]

PEORIA — After a long, drawn-out season of growing corn in 2009, central Illinois farmers may not yet be out of the woods. Since much of the corn picked last year - and even some picked this year - was wetter than normal, concerns are mounting over the condition of that grain. "Last fall, we all knew it was harvested wet. It didn't dry down in the field as it should have," said Kim Craig, merchandiser for the Bell Enterprises grain elevator in Deer Creek. "We all knew that there were going to be issues when we warm the grain back up."

Ideally, stored corn should retain no more than 15 percent moisture. Corn that doesn't dry down completely when it's stored is vulnerable to disease and contamination, said Patrick Kirchhofer, manager of the Peoria County Farm Bureau. "It's more likely to keep better in the cold weather. The fear is that when it warms up, there could be spoilage," he said. "Were there wet spots in the grain stored in farmers' bins? Farmers won't know until they start taking it out," said Kirchhofer.

Craig Shepherd, a market advisor for Peoria-based Water Street Solutions, a marketing firm specializing in agricultural operations, said the condition of some of the stored corn in Illinois "could be a disaster." "I've already heard some early horror stories on grain quality," he said.

Farmers are being urged to check for contaminated corn this year, said Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois Extension dairy specialist. Recent lab tests of Midwest grain found evidence of mycotoxins in more than three-quarters of the samples, he said. Mycotoxins are substances produced by fungi that, in high enough concentrations, can cause health problems in animals and humans.

EDIT

http://www.pjstar.com/business/x1868239662/Harvest-headaches-not-over

[Warpy]

1. Regular corn smut is also called Mexican truffle

and the flavor is shockingly similar to the real thing. The advice I have to offer is to open the can (huitlacoche) and dump it into a blender without looking at it. Another name is "devil poop," and it is intensely gross looking stuff, although delicious when blended with masa to make tortillas.

Unfortunately, wet silage also grows nasty things like aflatoxin molds. Corn smut is most likely to affect crops in the field instead of in storage.

[hatrack]

2. Friend of mine was talking about his Dad, who was finishing his corn harvest this month

Or was at least hoping to, if weather permitted.

:wow:

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. What!?

Where does this putative Dad live!?

[hatrack]

5. Iowa . . . the question my friend asked was "At this late date, what's the point?"

However, his Dad is one of those guys who's just got to finish the job, though I'd think anything standing in the fields in February might be useful as silage - maybe.

[Sal Minella]

6. Seems to me the kernels on the ears still on the stalks in the fields

would be well dried down, but there could be serious problems getting the harvesting equipment into the soggy fields come spring.

IIRC Iowa Public Radio said we have 800,000 acres of corn still standing in the fields. And some worried farmers, no doubt.

[madrchsod]

3. northern illinois and southern wisconsin has similar problems

iowa maybe worse. there are several hundreds of thousand of acres still nor harvested. the soil is saturated with the spring rains on the horizon....