Area corn, soybean harvests are gaining momentum

0 Comments | La Crosse Tribune, Oct 19, 2004 | by Cahalan, Steve

The state's corn and soybean harvest gained some momentum last week but the pace still is behind last year and the fiveyear average, the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service said Monday.

Meanwhile, University of Wisconsin Extension agricultural agents in Monroe and Jackson counties said their counties' average soybean yields probably will be lower than usual because of the wet spring and cool summer. Average corn yields probably will be below normal said Bill Halfman, agricultural agent in Monroe County.

"It's a little hard to say" whether average corn yields in Jackson County will be below normal, said Arden Hardie, agricultural agent in that county. "The wet spring certainly created a challenge in getting the crop in, and we had the cool summer," he said. -rhe (good weather in) September made up. for a lot of lost ground."

In its weekly report Monday, the state agency said about 13 percent of Wisconsin's corn crop has been harvested, compared with 31 percent at the same time last year and a five year average of 28 percent. It said about 57 percent of the state's soybean crop has been har-vested, compared with 70 percent a year ago and a five-year average of 61 percent.

There have been mixed reports on corn yields in central parts of the state, the agency said. Good yields have been reported in the southwest and south central parts of the state, it said.

The agency said soybean yields in northern parts of the state have varied, and yields in the southern part of the state have depended upon the timing of rains during the growing season.

Hallman and Hardie estimated three-fourths of soybean crop in their counties has been harvested. They said the harvest of corn for silage is nearly complete, and some farmers started harvesting some high-moisture corn for grain.

The two agricultural agents agreed the harvest of corn for grain also will be slower than usual because of the high price of propane. "Because we have high fuel prices, I think they'll let it dry in the field for as long as they can" rather than dry it in a grain dryer, Halfman said.

"With soybean yields, we've seen a wide variation" in Monroe County, Halfman said. "We've seen yields ranging in the 20s to the low to mid-40s" (bushels per acre). And a small number of soybean fields won't be harvested "because they were planted so late there was nothing to combine," he said.

"The (soybean) yields, from what I've heard, are not as good as normal" in Jackson County, Hardie said.