12 September 2007

2 minute read

North America

Corn harvest is starting to move quickly into the Corn Belt

Farmers posting in the Agriculture Online Marketing Talk discussion groups say they're seeing this accelerated progress throughout the nation's midsection. And at the same time, some early yield tests are showing surprising results.

Factoring in conditions that for one reason or another hampered crop progress at points during the growing season, the early harvest timeframe might mean yields are down. But, some Marketing Talk members say they're not finding crop damage that this year's flooding and severe drought conditions would usually promote. Instead, some early yield tallies are coming in slightly above what was expected just a few weeks ago.

"We started [harvest] a week ago last Monday. The early corn that did not get replanted is dry and yielding better than expected," says Marketing Talk member Don NMO of his area of northern Missouri. "We will raise more corn than last year on less rain. Not sure why. I would plan on a bigger crop than many expect."

Don NMO's tally of his own crop is shared around his area, according to this week's NASS Crop Progress and Condition report for the state of Missouri. The report shows a drydown in the last week to 10 days has brought the northern Missouri corn and soybean crops to or near maturation after four to eight inches of rain fell there in August.

"Early yield reports in northern and west-central areas range from near-average to excellent," according to the NASS report for Missouri. Thus far, the report indicates 16% of the state's corn crop was harvested by Labor Day, and 57% of the crop is mature.

Moving into Illinois, early yield reports are also higher than anticipated even just a few weeks ago, according to Marketing Talk member John From S. MN. This leads the south-central Minnesota farmer to believe he "may have underestimated this corn crop by four to eight bushels per acre.

Source: Agriculture Online