November 14, 2019
A “frustrating, hellish, wet marathon” is how Michigan ag commodity leaders are describing the 2019 harvest.
Already, state corn, soybean, dry bean, sugarbeet and potato producers are sifting through a laundry list of challenges — from untimely weather to soil compaction. Now, ag leaders wonder if their member-growers will be compelled to leave product in the fields as cold temperatures and precipitation continue to slow harvest progress.
Theresa Sisung, associate field crops specialist for the Michigan Farm Bureau, says producers are dealing with one of the most challenging harvest years to date.
“The rain that plagued us this spring has come back to haunt us this fall, and, unfortunately, the challenging conditions could lead to more problems in the spring,” Sisung says. “Compaction and the inability to access fields for fall maintenance could cause some challenging conditions for the 2020 growing season.”
Here’s a snapshot of the harvest season, through the lens of the commodity leaders:
Corn growers getting ‘anxious’
A messy 2019 planting season is turning into a messy harvest season, says Claire White, outreach manager for the Michigan Corn Growers Association and Corn Marketing Program of Michigan.
“We are having issues with rain and moisture making it hard to get into the field to harvest,” White says of the grassroots membership and checkoff organizations. “Harvest continues to be slow. Our growers are becoming anxious to get in the fields.”
Because of the wet conditions, White says corn harvest is only 10% to 20% complete, compared with the normal 51% five-year average. She says there’s concern for soil compaction, which will “carry over into the spring for many growers.”
“There also is a concern with the grain quality as growers are going to have to dry down the corn and core their bins earlier than anticipated,” White adds. “We urge [growers] to monitor storage closely to avoid any mold issues.”
Yields for this year’s crop are surprisingly good for some growers, White says, “as the growing year was not ideal.” However, she says some corn is running a higher moisture content than normal because of late planting.
“It doesn’t look like natural drydown in the field will happen this year,” White says. “The early-planted corn is what has been taken off at this time. Some growers will wait longer than normal to get their crop out of the field with hopes that soil conditions will firm up.”
She wouldn’t be surprised if “some of the corn crop was left in the field.”
Soybean harvest picture not pretty
If Janna Fritz could paint a picture of the soybean harvest, the only color she would use is gray.