By Jonathan Eisenthal
With the prospect of sunny skies for the next few days, following two weeks of rain off and on, Minnesota farmers are getting back up to speed with harvest.
USDA estimates that, as of Sunday, 12 percent of the corn crop has been brought in. On average, farmers in Minnesota have picked 16 percent by this date.
Looking at the quality of the crop, the USDA reports that 60 percent of the Minnesota corn crop is in good-to-excellent condition, while 27 percent is considered fair. Drought conditions throughout the growing season impacted much of the crop. A number of hard-hit areas mean that 13 percent has been rated poor or very poor condition by the USDA.
Still, most farmers hope to be see average or above average yields and grain quality for their operations.
“We had some periods of dryness (this growing season), but right in our local area, we’ve received decent rains and recently, more rain than we probably needed,” Todd Wentzel said. He serves as president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association. His operation is in Murdock, Minnesota, near Benson, near the western border of Minnesota. He said, “The fields are pretty moist right now, so we’re letting them dry out a little bit. Still, here in Minnesota, we’re always concerned about getting into that corn crop as soon as is reasonable, so we don’t have issues with plant health late in the season. One big windstorm can really change things for people. But it looks like a good crop out there.”
Rain delays occurred across the southern tier of the state.
“There’s been a lot of rain (at the beginning of harvest season),” Rob Tate said. He farms in Cannon Falls, south and east of the Twin Cities. Usually, Tate harvests soybeans first, but he shifted to picking corn first, focusing on fields where drought stress had left weakened corn stalks.
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