Upper Midwest farmers are still assessing damage to their crops from mid-September frosts that hit fields from eastern Minnesota to central Montana.
"I wouldn't say it was a killer (frost) that hit everything, but it definitely affected some fields and parts of fields," says Joe Neaton, a producer in Watertown, Minn., about 30 miles west of Minneapolis.
The full impact of the frost won't be known until individual fields are harvested, he and others say.
In some areas, temperatures fell to 27 or 28 degrees Fahrenheit and stayed there for several hours before rising, farmers and ag officials say. That stressed late-planted crops, particularly corn, soybeans and sunflowers, which need more time to develop.
Damage to sunflowers varies widely, says John Sandbakken, executive director of the National Sunflower Association in Bismarck, N.D.
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Fields that were planted relatively early this spring generally were advanced enough to avoid serious damage, though sunflowers planted later could suffer, he says.
The biggest impact could be on corn, traditionally the last of the three major crops (wheat and soybeans are the others) to be harvested.
New faster-maturing corn varieties have caused the crop to be planted in the western Dakotas and Montana, areas where the growing season once was too short.
Gordon Stoner, who farms in Outlook, Mont., in the north-central part of the state, says he's experimenting with corn -- and that the recent frost hurt it.
Sugar beets and potatoes, which receive some insulation from the soil above them, apparently avoided serious damage from the frost.
Beets and potatoes are important crops in the Red River Valley of western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota.
Andy Robinson, North Dakota and Minnesota extension potato specialist, and Brian Ingulsrud, vice president of agriculture for Moorhead, Minn.-based American Crystal Sugar, both say they're unaware of significant damage to their respective crops from the recent frost.
Bad fall for early frost
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Area farmers always benefit when the fall's first frost comes late, which gives their crops more time to mature. But the potential benefit was particularly big this growing season because the late spring delayed planting and pushed back crops' normal maturation.
Unfortunately, the mid-September frosts came a little earlier than usual in some areas.
On average, most of South Dakota, including Rapid City, receives its first fall frost in the final third of September, according to plantmaps.com.
The mid-September frost hurt some western South Dakota fields, although it's too early to say how much, says Christopher Graham, South Dakota State University Extension agronomist in Rapid City.
Most of North Dakota usually receives its first fall frost in the final third of September, with a few areas in the northern half of the state getting hit hard with their first frost from Sept. 11 to 20.
Some fields in west-central North Dakota were hurt by mid-September frost, says John Woodbury, Parshall, N.D. location manager for Dakota Quality Grain Cooperative.
Minnesota's average first fall frost ranges from early September in the north to early October in the south.
Montana's average first fall frost varies greatly, depending in part on elevation. Most of central and eastern Montana is hit with its fall frost in the second half of September.
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Forecasts for the week of Sept. 15 generally call for warmer, drier weather, although some areas have a chance of rain on Sept. 18 and 19.
The mid-September frosts further hampered the region's harvest, which has been interrupted by frequent showers.
Read a more detailed article about the region's slow-going harvest in the Sept. 22 issue of Agweek.
