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Harvest yields mixed results

T-R PHOTO BY ADAM SODDERS - Central Iowa farmers are hoping to get the corn crop harvested in the next few weeks, while many have already taken their soybeans out of the ground, as happened here with a harvested bean field on the left and standing corn on the right.

It’s go time for most central Iowa farmers as they take advantage of a recent dry spell to get corn and soybeans harvested from the fields.

Both United States Department of Agriculture stats and local information show farmers have prioritized getting soybeans out first and are now turning to finishing up corn.

“We were way behind on both the corn and soybean harvest, but now we’ve made a huge leap and farmers have really been able to catch up on soybean harvest,” said Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson, who’s district includes Marshall County.

Farmers have been sidelined for much of October due to unseasonably wet weather and immediately went to work harvesting soybeans last week. According to an Oct. 28 USDA state report, 81 percent of central Iowa’s soybeans have been harvested compared to 54 percent of the corn crop.

Kevin Holl, who farms south of Conrad, is following that trend.

“We’ve got the beans done. I got mine done Friday and my brother got his done Saturday,” he said. “There were some mold issues in the low areas where it got flooded around and we couldn’t harvest those, but I think overall we got most of the beans we could get, we didn’t lose much.”

While Anderson said the corn harvest will be the next priority for most farmers, she said the corn crop in central Iowa has dealt fairly well with the wet October, but the yields so far have varied from field to field across her district.

“The corn has really been standing, for the most part, pretty well,” she said. “If (farmers) have got conditions in the fields where they can be running their equipment and harvesting corn right now, they’re going to be out doing it.”

That’s Holl’s plan for this week.

“I’m thinking it’s going to be the end of the week for sure, if not the beginning of the week next week,” he said of the end of his corn harvest. “That should be pretty much rounding things up around here.”

On the overall crop harvest, Anderson said most farmers are around peak activity or starting to get toward the end of the process. Both she and Holl said farmers are hoping to see commodity prices improve.

Holl said late fall and winter will be busy for farmers. They need to come up with marketing plans, store and do maintenance on equipment and put tillage and fertilizer in fields.

He said he’ll also be watching the markets with tariff concerns weighing on his mind.

“If we could just get the prices back up there, we’ll all be happy,” he said.

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Contact Adam Sodders at

(641) 753-6611 or

asodders@timesrepublican.com

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