Field and Garden: Corn and beans need warm weather

“Of all my crops, the corn is struggling the most,” a farmer texted last week. He continued, “Some, but not all, of our corn may make knee-high by the 4th of July. I’d rather it was waist-high.”

The slow development of this year’s corn and soybean crops has frequently come up in my recent conversations with farmers.

Cool weather is to blame. Temperatures warmed considerably last week, but overall,...