Aflatoxin tests in corn show inconsistencies
Entwistle brothers discuss inconsistencies of afltoxin tests with acting Illinois Director of Agriculture Bob Flider
Mike Orso
Published: Sep 5, 2012
When they started to deliver their first loads of corn to elevators, the Entwistle brothers of central Illinois found some said “yes’ to their newly harvested corn, others, “no.”
“When we went to the river and delivered to this terminal over there, they told us we had aflatoxin,” said Allen Entwistle, president of the Sangamon County Farm Bureau. “So they sent us down to their neighbor, and we went through with flying colors.” (Hear Allen Entwistle’s full quote above.)
Allen Entwistle and his brother Terry, president of the Menard County Farm Bureau, hosted Bob Flider, acting Illinois director of agriculture, during corn harvest Tuesday near the town of Sweetwater. They discussed the aflatoxin testing inconsistencies with Flider, as he held a copy of the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s (IDOA) Aflatoxin Guidance for Elevators. The IDOA developed guidelines for handling corn detected with aflatoxin, but Flider says at present, it’s not widespread throughout the state.
Sangamon County Farm Bureau president Allen Entwistle (left) and his brother, Menard County Farm Bureau president Terry Entwistle (right.) share stories with Bob Flider, acting director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, about receiving inconsistent aflatoxin tests on the same load of corn at different country elevators. “We’ve actually been surveying the elevators,” says Flider. “What we’re finding out is that there has not been a whole lot of high incidences of it which I think is a really good thing. That’s not to say that as time goes on we won’t see more of it. There’s some, but it’s not like a huge, huge problem for the state right now.”
Terry Entwistle says he chopped enough corn for silage to supply his 70 head cow-calf herd with feed until next spring. Still, he welcomed the remnants of Hurricane Isaac last weekend and has already seen some of his pastures turn a deeper green. Their combine kicked up a deep, dark cloud of dust as it made its way through a drought-stricken corn field in Menard County, which Allen Entwistle says yielded up to 100 bushels an acre.
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