Indiana Soybean Harvest Wrapping Up

 

Stephanie Smith
Stephanie Smith

Another week without a USDA crop progress report, but on the ground sources say the Indiana soybean harvest in the north is about done.  Farmers have been focusing on getting the soybean crop in and many hope to finish by tonight. According to Stephanie Smith, agronomist with DuPont Pioneer in NE Indiana, “Dry weather over the weekend had a lot of guys working to finish their soybeans ahead of rain that is forecast this week. I would estimate we are about 70% on harvesting soybeans.” She says soybean yields have been surprisingly good, “I have heard averages from 50 bpa up to 80bpa.” She added the numbers are coming in a lot better than she would have thought even a month ago.

 

Smith told HAT most growers will be switching to corn later this week but that corn dry down has been slow, “Most of the corn is about 20% moisture, but it has been that way for quite a while. We are not seeing a lot of field drying this year.”  She said it appears that this year there just isn’t going to be any 18% moisture corn to harvest.

 

She, like many agronomists we have talked with, are quite concerned about stalk strength and worry that many corn plants will not be able to stand in the field much longer, “I think we have corn that can only stand to be in the field for another 2 to 3 weeks.”  She said disease, weather, and nitrogen depletion have all weakened corn stalks to the point where lodging is a serious concern.

 

Listen to the complete interview here

Recommended Posts

Loading...