GROWING OPTIMISM: Harvest outlook better after balmy September

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Oct 03, 2004 | by Bloom, Betsy

A surprisingly warm September may have salvaged what had looked to be a disappointing corn and soybean crop for 2004 in the region.

"I think it's going to be decent," Jerrold Tesmer, University of. Minnesota Extension ag technical advisor for Winona and Fillmore counties, said of the coming harvest.

"The price went down," Tesmer added with a chuckle, "but the optimism went up."

Until September, the weather had given farmers few reasons to be optimistic. The growing season in much of Minnesota and Wisconsin got a late start this year, with planting delayed by a late frost and heavy rains. The rains continued through the summer, coupled with temperatures that rarely ranged into the 80s in July and August, when corn craves heat and humidity.

It put the harvest behind by weeks, if a crop was to be had at all. As the summer waned into September, area ag experts made dour predictions that even if the frost held off, corn and soybean yields would be mediocre at best.

"It takes a pretty tremendous September to make up for a poor July and August," Steve Rischette, former UW Extension agricultural agent for La Crosse County, said two weeks ago. "If we're lucky, we'll meet the low average for corn and low average for soybeans."

Then September did its best imitation of August - and crops appear to have seized on the late opportunity.

A survey of ag agents in the region last week indicated both corn and soybeans look much more promising than they did only a few weeks earlier.

"September's weather was essential for finishing off the crops. Mother Nature made it happen ... at least it looks like it right now," said Jon Zander, UW Extension agricultural agent for Trempealeau County.

"The last two or three weeks has really helped them recover," said Dennis Nicolai, agronomy manager at the Farmers Co-op in West Salem, Wis. "In fact, I think there's going to be some excellent crops."

Those prospects may hinge on how many additional growing days the plants get. September simply didn't have the hours of sunlight that July or August would, so crops in many counties still are playing catch-up.

In a normal year, combines would be out by late September, mowing soybeans already withered and buckskin brown. This year, a good number of bean fields still have golden and greenspotted leaves.

Brian Brenengen, who farms 3,600 acres east of Trempealeau with his two brothers, harvested his first beans of 2004 on Thursday. Some of his fields have yet to shed their leaves, and he doubts some will mature in time.

He wasnt complaining, though. "Three weeks, four weeks ago, it could have been a disaster," Brenengen said. "We went from disaster to probably an average crop or above."

Much of the region's corn is green as well, at a time when leaves and husks should be like parchment. Corn maturity is judged by looking at the kernels - those still with liquid inside are said to be at "milk" stage, a mealy interior is "dough" stage. By late September, kernels should start showing a distinct "black line" crosswise - like stripes on candy corn indicating just how much the kernel has started drying down. This year, a fair amount of the corn remains doughy or even milky.

The more moisture in the corn when it comes out of the field, the more farmers will have to pay for propane gas to 'have it artificially dried. The expense would be even tougher to bear this year because of the higher fuel costs.

Kathy Dummer of Dummer's Grain Service in rural Holmen, Wis., predicted if the weather doesnt turn wet again, farmers might leave corn in the field to dry until November. It has to be a certain moisture level for storage, and with the current low prices for corn and soybeans - about $1.59 a bushel for corn, down from more than $3 earlier this year, and about $5 for soybeans, half of what was being paid - she expects a lot of farmers will put their crops in the bin and wait for the market to improve.

While Wisconsin and Minnesota have been fretting, over their crops, other prime corn-producing states are reporting record yields, and the national corn harvest is expected to be 11 billion bushels, 8 percent more than last year.

As a result, "prices now are probably as low as they've been in five years," said Nicolai of Farmers Co-op in West Salem.

The best scenario would have been no frost for the first few weeks of October, then a good cold snap to shut down the plants and aid in drying.

All but some isolated spots in rural Monroe and Trempealeau counties were spared the freak August frost that brought the growing season to an early end throughout much of northern Minnesota.

But the luck - and growing season - might have run out early Saturday morning, when temperatures in most parts of the region dropped below freezing. It will take a few days to determine if some crops managed to withstand the frost, but it's likely "for the most part, the growing season is over," Brenengen said Saturday.

"We could have used a little more (time)," he conceded. "But I think we'll be okay. We had some field loss after last night, there's no doubt about that ... I'm guessing we'll be fair (harvest-wise), maybe a good field here and there, mostly just fair."