Upper Midwest harvest nears completion

Gary, Minn., farmer Corey Hanson needed one more afternoon to finish his harvest.

Baldwin, N.D., producer Clark Coleman needed one more week.

Warm, dry weather in October and early November enabled most Upper Midwest farmers to make rapid harvest progress. A little more favorable weather would allow harvest to wrap up, or virtually so, by the middle of November, farmers and others say.

"It's getting close," David Karki, South Dakota State University Extension agronomy field specialist in Watertown, says of harvest's end.

It's uncertain if the weather will continue to cooperate, however. Regional forecasts for the week of Nov. 3 predicted the possibility of light rain or snow on several days. Farmers say that while limited precipitation wouldn't be a major hurdle to finishing harvest, large amounts of additional moisture would be troublesome.

Soybean harvest already is finished, or close to it, according to the Nov. 3 harvest progress report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service, an arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

As of that date, soybean harvest was 99 percent finished in South Dakota, 98 percent done in Minnesota and 97 percent complete in North Dakota.

Generally favorable weather early in the week of Nov. 3 allowed most of the few remaining soybeans to be harvested, farmers say.

Wrapping up soybean harvest is especially satisfying because of the unusually wet spring. Many area soybean fields were planted later than normal, pushing back crops' maturation and increasing the possibility that harvest would stretch into late November.

"If you had told me when I planted my soybeans that they'd turn out like this, I'd have been very pleased," Hanson says.

He was planning to combine his last remaining field later in the day on which he talked with Agweek.

Continued warm, dry weather is most important for corn and sunflowers, the last of the region's crops to be harvested.

As of Nov. 3, corn harvest was 71 percent finished in Minnesota, 61 percent complete in South Dakota and 55 percent done in North Dakota. All three rates were below their respective five-year averages, but the gap was smaller than a week earlier.

Coleman, who's beginning his corn harvest, says his crop looks good. If the weather cooperates, he could finish harvest by the middle of November.

Even more of the area's corn crop could have been harvested by now, but some farmers decided to delay harvest until standing corn had dried down naturally in fields, reducing the cost of artificial drying, producers say.

Also as of Nov. 3, sunflower harvest was 54 percent complete in North Dakota and 48 percent finished in South Dakota. Both rates are close to their respective five-year averages. The two states are the nation's leading sunflower producers.

Coleman says his sunflower harvest is disappointing. His crop was hurt by unfavorable weather soon after it was planted.

Coleman, who grows a number of crops, says "some turned out pretty well and some were mediocre to poor."

Heavy rains during small grains harvest in late summer hurt quality, he says.

Fall rains mixed blessing

Rain was a common problem in much of the Upper Midwest this year.

But the heavy early fall rains boosted the outlook for winter wheat, which Upper Midwest farmers have finished planting.

"It just looks awesome," Matt Flikkema, a Manhattan, Mont., farmer says of his fledgling winter wheat crop.

He notes, however, the overall quality of small grains harvested in Montana this fall is much poorer than usual.

"So, that (the heavy fall rains) helped in one way and hurt in another," he says.