Problems with ear development are showing up in southern Nebraska cornfields. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension educator Jenny Rees says it appears to be a combination of a specific genetic line of so-called “race-horse hybrids” and plant stress following an early July windstorm.

It’s too early to determine just how much overall yields will be affected, but Rees thinks it will have an impact.

There are reports of greater-than-normal “tip back” of ears in some Nebraska fields. That means the kernels don’t fill all the way out to the end of the ear and those barren tips can reduce the yield.