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Excellent drying weather has set fall harvest into full swing around most of Minnesota the week of Sept. 23, and the extended forecast is showing favorable conditions for combining.  

“Silage corn is wrapping up and some producers began with soybean harvest late last week, but I expect everyone to be going by this weekend, and I believe we’ll see some corn coming off by this weekend as well,” said Justin Schroeder, treasurer of the Minnesota Crop Production Retailers (MCPR).

Soybean harvest is about a week behind last year, while corn is behind 12 days. Soybean condition statewide is rated 63% good to excellent; corn is similarly rated 66% good to excellent. Schroeder, general manager and CEO of Central Counties Cooperative in Atwater, says crop conditions have been mostly dependent on soil type and which fields could move the most water this year. However, weather conditions coming into harvest have been a reversal from most of the growing season. A few weeks of warm, dry and windy conditions has sped up the progression.

“Our grain dryer gas gallons are going down here in a hurry, which is good,” Schroeder said. “It’s always better if we can let Mother Nature do it.”

According to USDA’s Sept. 16 Crop Progress Report, silage corn was 36% harvested in Minnesota, which is behind the five-year average for this date of 53%. Dry edible bean harvest as of last week was at 17% harvested, behind the five-year average of 29%. Small grains harvest of barley, oats and spring wheat are virtually complete.

While the warm fall temps will help speed up harvest for most crops, it could potentially cause some delays in the sugarbeet campaign, which typically gets underway around Oct. 1.

“Pre-lift began about three weeks ago, but I don’t expect the main haul to get underway until maybe mid-October with it being so warm,” Schroeder said. “Yields in this Meeker-Kandiyohi County region are all over the board.”

The USDA rates sugarbeet quality at 82% good to excellent.

These next few weeks will be the busiest as harvest begins on soybeans and switches right into corn. Overall, Schroeder says this likely won’t be a bin-busting year for most producers.

“We’ve been so lucky these past couple of years with record-breaking crops,” he said,
“but eventually it’s got to give in, and I believe this is that year and it’s unfortunate the prices aren’t great, either.”