Farm Horizons
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Dec. 5, 2016
days behind the five-year average and eight days behind
last year, according to the United States Department of
Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Yields were “fairly good” for Mackedanz, corn from
185 to 200 bushels per acre and soybeans in the mid50s, some 60s. He tried to hold off on tillage to hopefully correct some of the compaction in the fields, where
his combine got stuck 19 times during harvest.
Good yields were a bright spot, Nicolai said. Early
planting got the crops off to a strong start, followed by
an accumulation of growing degree days.
“And we had a lot of rain in August, which helps the
soybean yields. And then we were able to get by without
an early, killing frost,” Nicolai said.
From anecdotal yield information, a lot of fields
brought in 60 to 70 bushels of soybeans per acre, Nicolai
said, and there were many reports of 190 to 200 bushel
corn.
For Chris Buckentin in rural Brownton, the yields
helped temper rough weather.
“It’s going to be our best corn crop ever in six years
farming,” he said, adding his soybeans also yielded
above average, despite drownouts.
Buckentin works about 400 acres. After several years
when harvest was “a breeze,” 2016 was tough going. His
combine only got stuck once, but he’s concerned the
compaction of heavy machinery on wet soil is going to
linger.
“I think we will feel the effects of this harvest for the
next several years,” Buckentin said.
Farmers tried to load on the edges of fields and work
around especially wet spots, but sometimes the crop just
had to come out. In November, the USDA rated Minnesota’s topsoil moisture supplies 80 percent adequate and
18 percent surplus, with 0 percent short.
“That’s a good thing to some extent to go into the
winter wet,” Nicolai said. “Then we aren’t going to be
as dry in spring.”
Above average temperatures and dry weather allowed
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Minnesota farmers to continue harvest and field activities late into November. Dave Marquardt and his dad
finished combining at the end of October. They have
about 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat in southwestern Wright County near Howard Lake.
“I was pretty nervous for about a month there (about
harvest),” said Marquardt, who noted field conditions
were decent —“not bad but certainly not great.”
His beans yielded above average, and his corn yields
were good where soil wasn’t too wet, he said.
Overall, corn came in from the field dry this ye