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Pesticide Use Information for New York State | |
NAPIAP Survey - Field Corn - 1994 | |
Demographics |
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One hundred and sixty-seven field corn producers filled out a pesticide use survey. For purposes of this survey, the state was divided into five areas by geography and climate as in a 1945 corn survey conducted by Cooperative G. L. F. Exchange, Inc., Ithaca, NY:
One hundred and fourteen growers (68.3%) grew corn for grain on 11,984.2 acres with an average yield of 131.8 bushels/acre (Table 1). Planting date for maximum yield should occur between April 28 and May 15 unless in an area where late frosts occur. If soil conditions are wet in late April or early May, planting date should be delayed until the soil can be worked without excessive compaction (Cornell Field Crops and Soils Handbook). Corn for grain, in this survey, was planted on average between May 10 and May 15, well within the recommended dates. The average seeding rate was between 25,500 and 27,600 and average row spacing was between 31 and 32 inches. Both of these fall within recommendations for corn for grain.
One hundred and four growers (62.3%) grew corn for silage on 6,207.1 acres with an average yield of 16.8 tons/acre (Table 2). Corn for silage was planted between May 4 and May 21, average seeding rate was between 27,300 and 29,500 and average row spacing was 31 to 36 inches. All of these fall within the recommendations given in Cornell Field Crops and Soils Handbook.
Ninety growers (78.9%) used a conventional tillage system to grow corn for grain on 6,404.6 acres (53.4%, Table 3). The remaining tillage systems used for corn for grain were conservation (28.1% of growers, 43.9% of acreage), no-till (4.4% of growers, 2.6% of acreage), and one grower (0.8%) did not specify the type of tillage system used. Average yield did not appear to differ between conventional and conservation tillage for corn grown for grain. Due to the small number of growers using a no-till system, yield comparisons are not valid. As with grain, the most common tillage system used by growers of corn for silage was conventional (77.9% of growers, 61.6% of acreage). Yields were for conventional and conservation tillage.
According to the Cornell Field Crops and Soils Handbook, for maximum corn production and sustained soil productivity, corn should be rotated out of a field after 3 years, therefore, for this survey, any field that had corn grown on it in 1991, 1992 and 1993 was considered to be continuous corn in 1994. Table 4 shows the field rotation used by New York State field corn growers. Thirty-nine and one-half percent of the grain acreage in 1994 was continuous corn and 35.7% was first year corn. Yield did not differ between rotations. Corn grown for silage showed similar results; 32.5% of the acreage was continuous corn, 29.8% was first year corn, and yield did not differ between rotations.
Although most seed dealers pretreat corn with a fungicide before sale, 14.2% of the corn for grain acreage and 15.5% of the corn for silage acreage was planted with seed that was not pre-treated (Table 5).
