Specialists Speaking- Tyson Raper

Tyson Raper

TENNESSEE

As I write this on Oct 13., we are quickly moving through harvest. Although most have been very pleased with quality across the board, yields have not been as universally pleasant. Most of our earliest planted acres made their crop prior to the onset of our drought. Subsequently, yields, with few exceptions, have tapered off as the plant dates moved later into the year.

There are several takeaways from our experiences in 2026. Many in our area pushed planting up into mid- and late April, but then replanted many of these relatively consistent, yet thin, stands. I argue that many of these stands should have been kept. Unfortunately, the replant didn’t receive rainfall late enough in the season. Those that kept the thin stands watched plants struggle through a wet and cool start, but when temperatures warmed, the earliest-planted acres proceeded to generate the highest yields observed from 2026. Keep in mind that our highest yields are almost always from our earliest planted acres.

In my opinion, we need to figure out how to become more comfortable with early planted, thin stands that have had to struggle through wet and cool conditions — or lower our yield goals and plant in mid- to late May, when every seedling jumps out of the ground without any early season stress. This will be a major theme of many of my winter meetings, and I’ll be posting some supporting evidence in the next few months on news.utcrops.com.

Tyson Raper

TENNESSEE