Corn, bean yields up despite late start

Spring rain delayed planting times and therefore the start of harvest. Yields appear to have been affected very little by the timing. Greg and Donna Hellyer work on soybean harvest near Bowen.

Harvest 2008 looks like a strong yield in both corn and beans despite late planting in the spring.

Beans are the crop of the moment in early October. Cooler temperatures have kept corn moisture levels higher causing farmers to hit bean fields and hope for warmer weather.

Bean harvest is over 50 percent completed with good results. Elevators reported yields anywhere from 47 bushels an acre to as high as 80 bushels an acre.

“At our place in Colusa, they've had a few guys with 80 bushels an acre,” said Trent Scanlan, plant manager at Colusa Elevator Company in Ferris. “That's phenominal.”We haven't seen that in years.”

“We've seen some real good numbers, probably the mid-50s on average, which is 10 to 15 percent above our average,” said Ray Tournear, location manager for Ursa Farmers Coop in Bowen.

Planting season was about a month late in the spring after heavy rains. Rains let up long enough to plant before resuming in the summer.

“We had a lot of rainfall in the summer. That helped make up in part for the late planting season,” said Gene McEntee, a manager for the Colusa Elevator Company in Nauvoo.

The bean harvest is likely to be mostly done by the end of this week or the middle of next week, weather permitting. Farmers stayed with beans while hoping for warmer weather to dry the corn.

“I've been here for 19 years, and this is the first time I remember farmers staying with beans and not starting on corn,” said Scanlan.

Corn harvest is expected to begin in earnest once beans are done. Scanlan said the Ferris area has had 200 to 230 bushels per acre in yield so far.

The typical corn brought in (at Nauvoo) is about 20,” said McEntee. “We've seen either side of that.”

Tournear said he can only go by what he hears from farmers.

“We have put away virtually no corn,” he said. “We're hearing that it looks good.”

The two recent days with 80 degree temperatures are needed in the coming week to help dry corn.

“We've seen it take two or three days to get a one point drop in moisture in the field,” said Scanlan. “Usually we would see a one to two point drop a day.”

The late planting has the corn harvest behind schedule. Scanlan said Ferris was officially done with harvest last year on Nov. 7.

“We've been able to count on being done with harvest in about one-and-a-half months the last few years,” said Scanlan. “Normally we're about three-quarters done by the first of November.”

“We're way behind,” said Tournear of Bowen. “We're just starting corn. Last year, many people were done with corn by the end of September.”

Tournear said he doesn't believe farmers will wait to harvest corn once beans are done.

“They're already concerned about how late it's getting,” he said.

Farmers in the southern part of the county also have wetter fields due to more rain in recent weeks.

“I've had a few people tell me that another half inch of rain and they may not be able to get across their fields real well,” said Tournear.

Once the late harvest is over, farmers should have reason to see this year as another good year.

“I don't think we're going to see any records, but it looks very good,” said McEntee.