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Small grain producers in Minnesota are continuing the 2024 harvest despite a few roadblocks put up by Mother Nature in mid-August.

“There was a lot of rain that delayed harvest,” said Rick Walker, chair of the Minnesota Crop Production Retailers (MCPR).

According to USDA’s Aug. 26 Crop Progress Report, more than half (54%) of Minnesota’s spring wheat crop is harvested with about 82% reported as good-to-excellent conditions and protein levels around 12-14%. Walker, a senior sales manager for West Central Ag Services, said he anticipates that, weather permitting, most growers will finish spring wheat harvest by early September.

The state’s barley crop is 57% of the way through harvest, with the majority (83%) rated as good to excellent. Ditto for Minnesota’s oat producers, who have completed 80% of their harvest. Sugarbeet harvest is about 3% complete, with growers beginning to open their fields before the official start of harvest kicks off Oct. 1. Dry edible bean harvest should also start soon.

Minnesota’s sweet corn harvest is just about complete, and about 19% of Minnesota’s corn crop is dented (down from 46% in 2023) and 5% has reached maturity, though yields are expected to be lower than 2023. Sixty percent of corn crop conditions are considered good to excellent.

Walker considers the quality of the state’s soybean crop as highly variable. Per the USDA report, 63% of the soybean crop in Minnesota is rated good to excellent, with setting pods at nearly 90%, eight days behind the average.

“The soybeans are starting to look better. There’s a lot of nice-looking soybeans and some in between,” said Walker, who represents MCPR’s District 3. “The rain really helped them and hopefully they’ll fill in all the way. They just need some more time.”

Walker, who expects potato harvest to start in the coming weeks, preached patience as the calendar shifts to September.

“We’ve got a lot of harvest left to get through,” he said. “We’ve definitely got a lot of crops up here in the northern part of the state.”