A couple of farm visits took me from Emmetsburg to Cylinder to Ringsted on October 1. I am guessing the soybean harvest in those areas is about half done.
The big news this year is that we are seeing some exceptional soybean yields. There are lots of credible reports of 60 bu/a whole field yields. Of course, there are some whole field reports far greater than that and some test plots showing some nearly unbelievable yields.
Corn harvest has begun in some areas also. There are reports of grain moisture in the upper teens to low 20s. Some of the corn yields are a little ‘disappointing’. One farmer expressed disappointment in in some 190+ bu/a yields and said he thought it would be a little better than that.
September has been a great month. The rainfall for many locations was about three inches – which was at or below normal. Also we had a warm September – many locations were 120 GDDs above normal. So those conditions were ideal to complete crop development and to begin corn grain dry down.
We still have not had a killing frost. Some farmers would like a killing frost as the soybean crop left to harvest has some green/yellow stems and pods.
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