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Warm termperatures in September pushed the 2021 corn and soybean crop toward maturity, and area farmers have capitalized on good harvest conditions.
By the end of September, soybean harvest was over 50 percent completed, while some areas still need a bit more time for soybeans to fully mature.
Many corn hybrids were also nearly ready by mid-September and local producers are taking those fields out as well.
Rock County farmer Brad Vandeberg was combining corn in a field near his home place north north of Hills and said that field had done well.
But he said many others in that part of the county had been affected by hail and wind damage.
According to Kent Thiesse, farm management analyst, soybean yields have been highly variable across the Upper Midwest due to differing impacts from drought conditions in 2021.
He said the moisture content on much of the corn being harvested dropped considerably during the last half of September and is now near 20 percent or lower.
Corn is usually dried down to a final moisture content of 15-16 percent moisture for safe storage until the following summer.
Corn will dry down about .50 percent per day naturally at an average daily temperature of 60 degrees F, which increases considerably at higher temperature levels, such as have existed in recent weeks.
In southern Minnesota normal daily average air temperature drops to about 48 degrees during October. If favorable drying weather continues in the coming weeks, it is likely that corn drying costs in many areas will be greatly reduced in 2021.
It is too early to project 2021 corn yields across the Midwest, however, early indications are that corn yields in many areas will be even more variable than the soybean yields.
In portions of the upper Midwest that had timely and adequate rainfall during the growing season, 2021 corn yields may end up average or above average. However, in western Minnesota corn yields will be well below APH yields due the drought conditions this past Summer.
Based on the Sept. 10 USDA Crop Report, Minnesota’s 2021 average corn yield was estimated at 174 bushels per acre, which is well below the record statewide average corn yield of 194 bushels per acre in 2017.