Rock County farmers are well ahead of the average grain harvest timeline for the 2020 growing season.
Last week Hardwick farmer Dan Niemeyer was combining his last field.
Weather this year has been more cooperative.
Last year Niemeyer recalled the wet weather delayed spring planting with most seed hitting the ground in May.
This year, planting was able to occur in April, with more farmers like Niemeyer able to finish weeks ahead of schedule.
Early planting meant crops would be ready earlier. Weather has stayed dry for the past several weeks.
“It has kind of been an ideal fall for harvest,” Niemeyer said.
But conditions may be a little too dry.
Red flag warnings continued in the area with the dry corn at risk for field fires.
“August was too dry,” said Niemeyer, who was wrapping up harvest this week.
Yields may have suffered but results have still been good.
As a state average, Minnesota corn production is up 22 percent from last year at 1.53 billion bushels, according to the USDA statistics service October report.
Yields are expected to average 202 bushels an acre, up 29 bushels per acre from last year.
Soybean production is also up at a forecast 381 million bushels, up 28 percent from last year.
Yields in the state are estimated at 52 bushels per acre, up 8 bushels per acre over 2019.