What once held promise of being one of the best crops in recent memory has turned into nothing less than a soupy mess.
“I can’t even tell you how many beans are left out there,” said Larry Olsen, grain manager at FCA Co-op. “Some guys are done, some haven’t even really gotten started, some have just moved onto corn. It’s slow, it’s wet — it’s a mess.”
Frank Hlavka, certified crop adviser at Jackson Crop Services in Jackson, and Jim Nesseth of EXTended Ag Services in Lakefield, estimate about half of the beans in Jackson County are out of the field.
“There are a lot of beans out there yet,” Hlavka said Tuesday. “But with the amount of moisture we’ve received, there are not going to be too many more acres gone in the next few days.”
Especially with rain threatening again midweek.
“That last rain really filled up the subsoil,” Nesseth said. “The bean ground is soft. More rain is exactly what we don’t need at this point.”
Plenty of beans to go
The beans that have come out of the ground are yielding well, the three say.
“By and large, guys are pretty pleased with yields falling into that 45 to 55 range,” Nesseth said. “But this is going to be a year that most producers with soybeans left in the field are going to have to commit to do some drying. Now, we don’t have a lot of experience in drying soybeans, but at this point, I don’t think many people are going to be waiting until the beans in the field hit 13.5 percent moisture.”
Hlavka said beans yields have hung in that 45- to 55-bushels-per-acre range, with some topping out at around 60.
“Yields are pretty decent yet,” he said, “though when guys get back out there and get going on those beans that got soaked and then dried, those pods can have a tendency to pop. That could raise some issues.”
Corn holds promise
Though it’s an uneasy feeling, Olsen said, many area farmers have opted to leave the beans alone for a bit and tackle corn instead. Combines started tearing into corn fields Sunday evening, Olsen said, but it was tough going and by Tuesday night, only a fraction of the crop was out of the field.
“The little bit that is out is looking pretty good,” Olsen said. “I’ve heard yields ranging from 185 to way over 200. Those numbers are raising spirits a bit.”
Hlavka has heard early yield reports in the 180- to 200-dry-bushels-per-acre range.
“The test weights might be a little lighter on that corn, but with yields like that, we should be able to make up for those a bit,” he said. “Early on, guys are very pleased with yields. It’s just a matter of getting it out of the field.”
Nesseth agrees.
“There are some pretty decent yields to be had out there, but we’ll see lighter test weights and come to see the grain quality is not as good as we would like,” he said. “We’ll fall in that 180 to 200 range and higher and have some fields that are just outstanding while others we finish up with we’ll come to realize just never got mature before the freeze came. There will be some excellent yields, but those yields will be more costly when we figure in the dollars required to get it dried and stored.”
Nesseth has seen some corn run as low as 22 to 23 percent moisture, but has also heard of some in the high 20s to low 30s.
“That’s the stuff we call corn soup,” he said. “But, at some point, you look at the calendar and see it’s almost November. You just have to tear into it. And if you have to run through Thanksgiving, you do it.”
Stressful for farmers
The long, drawn-out harvest does take its toll on farmers, though.
“It’s been a tough battle for lots of guys,” Nesseth said. “It’s already been a long harvest with delays and setbacks and it’s not half over.”
“It’s a slow process that comes with a high level of stress for our farmers,” Olsen said.
But, Hlavka said, with a good corn crop in the field, producers have reason for hope.
“We’ll get it out,” he said. “We just need Mother Nature to cooperate big time. But, I do feel for the farmers. This is a high-stress time. We just hope and pray they stay safe through all this and that things work out.”
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