NCGA: Good Weather Helps Corn Harvest Progress in Some Areas
11/17/2009 02:57PM
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Favorable harvest conditions across the Midwest over the past two weeks allowed growers to make considerable harvest progress – even at night – bringing in more than a quarter of the crop since the beginning of November. However, they are still well behind the normal pace, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.
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During the week ending November 15, the national corn harvest moved 23 percentage points closer to completion, a 12 percent increase from the previous week. Nationwide, the corn harvest is now roughly 54 percent complete. This lags well behind the 5-year average of 89 percent at this time and even behind 2008 when harvest was 77 percent complete by mid November.
“It has been reassuring to start seeing dust flying out of the combine after almost two weeks of good weather,” said National Corn Growers Association Chairman Bob Dickey, a farmer in Laurel, Neb. “All we really need now is a window and, with today’s technology, we can finish harvesting before winter.”
Out of the top 13 corn-producing states, only Kansas, Kentucky and Missouri have surpassed or are near 75 percent complete. Iowa and Illinois showed the most progress as each completed an additional 25 and 22 percent, respectively. Iowa currently has 59 percent of its harvest complete, while Illinois is at 52 percent completed.
“In southern Illinois, harvest is progressing fairly well, but I know that that is not the case further north,” said Corn Board member Garry Niemeyer of Auburn, Ill. “While some farmers here are nearing completion, elevators just south of Chicago are closing by 10 a.m. because they cannot hold anymore corn for drying. With moisture contents reaching 30 percent, it may still be a long process there.”
Progress in the Northern and Western states is falling further behind the five-year average. In these regions, only Nebraska is approaching the halfway point, with 48 percent complete. Minnesota is 43 percent completed, followed by Wisconsin at 38 percent and South Dakota at 27 percent. The North Dakota harvest has fallen dramatically behind at only 8 percent harvested. In North Dakota, harvest is normally 74 percent complete by this point.
“While data shows that the Minnesota corn crop is 43 percent harvested, I believe that we are only at 15-20 percent around here,” said NCGA Corn Board member Jerry Larson of Elbow Lake, Minn. “We continue making slow progress, but frosty mornings cut our days short and high moisture contents require drying. This year requires quite a bit of patience and determination.”