Harvest is shaping up nicely for much of the Corn Belt, bringing in outstanding yields, despite less-than-ideal conditions in many areas. Here are a few snapshots of harvest activities from Stine’s regional sales agronomists.
Kevin Ryan, Region 14
“Corn harvest in the South is 90 percent complete with outstanding yields throughout the region. Excellent growing conditions maximized yields, especially with Stine HP hybrids. 9739VT3Pro and 9808EVT3Pro had very good yields in all soil types, and 9806EVT3Pro has proven itself once again on lighter soils and even on no-till and drying!
Soybean harvest ranges from complete to maybe 30 percent harvested, depending on where you are. Rain has slowed or delayed harvest in some areas; yields vary by variety and location. Estimated soybean yields will be higher than expected in most areas with LibertyLink® varieties definitely proving to yield at least as high or higher than Roundup® Ready varieties in same maturity on same soil types. Growers can find varieties in either trait with very high yields. It's becoming more important to match soybean varieties by soil type and population.
Overall, I’ve seen outstanding yields across the board!”
Todd Schomburg, Region 4
“Harvest is well underway in northern and western Iowa. More acres of corn are harvested than beans at this time mainly because of the wet weather. With the excessive rain, corn and soybean harvest has basically stopped Highway 30 and south. North of Highway 30, however, harvest has been moving forward. If we could get four or five dry days in a row, most all of the soybeans will be harvested.
Yields on both corn and soybeans are all over the board so far with really no trends with the small amount harvested. In general, bean yields seem to be a bit higher than expected and corn less than expected because of the cool season evenings. Even though the corn is less than expected, it will still be one of the better corn production years in most areas.”
John Furlong, Region 7
“Progress is slow in eastern Iowa, but more soybeans are coming out in northeast Missouri. Yields on soybeans seem to be very good, except in those areas where sudden death syndrome hit. Really early corn yields look tremendous, but very little has been taken out as moisture is higher than what producers like to harvest. More info will be available as soon as harvest gets going full bore.”
Tony Lenz, Region 3
“In my area of southwest Minnesota, southeast South Dakota and northeast Nebraska, most producers started soybean harvest the first week of October and have seen very good yields. Frost in the middle of September did not seem to affect yields very much with all the high yields that are being reported. Most cornfields have hit black layer and are mostly in the high teens to low 20 percent moisture range, which is depending greatly on maturity or planting dates.”
How's harvest shaping up in your area? For questions or help in your fields this fall, contact your Stine regional sales agronomist.