Harvest Activity Picks Up After Slow Start

BY DAN GRANT 

Harvest activity, much like the weather late last week, heated up, particularly in southern Illinois.

Eric Shields, a FarmWeek CropWatcher from Carbondale (Jackson County), noted corn harvest on his family’s farm was about 50 percent complete as of Friday.

“Harvest is in full swing for corn around here,” Shields said. “We’re about half done with our corn. We were lucky enough to get it planted early.”

Moisture levels that remained high in some cornfields earlier this month dropped in recent weeks as dryness issues persisted and temperatures warmed into the 80s.

Nearly the entire state of Illinois was abnormally dry, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor last week, with patches of moderate drought in central and southwest portions of the state.

The situation is even worse in Iowa where most of the state is at some level of dryness or drought, including extreme drought in the south. The eastern half of Missouri also is in a mix of abnormal dryness and moderate drought.

“We are extremely dry right now,” said Kevin Raber, a CropWatcher from Browns (Wabash County). “A rain would really help our soybeans.”

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Many farmers around the state reported issues of soybeans dying prematurely and aborting pods in recent weeks due to the lack of rain.

“It (the dry weather) is really hurting the soybean crop,” Shields said. “It was looking phenomenal, but in the (past two weeks) I’ve noticed pods aborting. We haven’t had any rains.”

The situation was similar in parts of northern Illinois. Leroy Getz, a CropWatcher from Savanna (Carroll County), reported no rain on his farm since Aug. 29.

“The crops are drying down fast,” he said.

Yield reports so far are quite variable, although many farmers seem to agree the average will be down from last year.

“My (corn) yields would be some of the better ones I’ve had if it wasn’t for the drowned-out spots,” said Shields, whose farm was inundated with 14 inches of rain in two days last spring. “Where the corn is a full stand, it’s very good. But, for a farm average, it will be about average.”

Corn harvest got off to a slow start due to cool temperatures in August and early this month. Just 2 percent of the crop was in the bin, as of the first of last week, 4 percent behind the average pace.

Nationwide, farmers harvested 5 percent of the corn crop as of last week, 1 percent behind average.

U.S. crop conditions, 61 percent good to excellent for corn and 60 percent good to excellent for beans, remain well below last year’s ratings of 74 and 73 percent good to excellent, respectively.