Crop Report: Warm dry weather boosts harvest
It's been a tough weather year for Minnesota farmers.
After a dicey growing season began with drought and a cool summer, crops finally matured nicely with a late season burst of heat in September. Then just as farmers were ready to get out and begin the harvest, the rains came in October.
Wet fields have slowed this year's harvest significantly. Last year at this time, 83% of the Minnesota's corn crop was in the bin.Today's Minnesota crop report shows farmers are playing catch up. Only 23% of the corn crop has been harvested so far.
The good news this week is with the soybean crop. Our mild dry start to November has allowed farmers to catch up. So far 77% of the soybean crop is in the bin. That's still below the 5-year average of 98% by this date, but it's good progress. Last week 4.8 days were considered suitable for field work in the state.
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Our mild dry November is off to another good start this week. It appears most of this week will be sunny and dry, and that should allow for muddy fields to firm up a bit. I would expect that next weeks harvest numbers will look even better. The CPC 6 to 10 day outlook looks warmer than average.
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The 8 to 14 day precip outlook from CPC also looks drier than average.
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Hopefully the combination of warm and dry November weather will get the crops in the bank by Thanskgiving.
We've had a string of some pretty good years for crops in Minnesota. I think many will remember 2009 as a year that made a good crop something to appreciate.
PH