News

Crop variability present in Minnesota

Despite strong overall crop condition ratings in Minnesota, some farmers continue to report problems from excessive moisture.

Keith Hartmann, who farms southwest of the Twin Cities, says this has been a challenging year.

“Early on we had a lot of rain, and it’s starting to show itself right now.  We’re seeing some nitrogen loss in the corn, and it’s very variable throughout the field.”

With the variability, Hartmann expects yields to be down compared to 2017, but says a lot still depends on August weather.

The latest crop report from USDA rates 77 percent of corn and 74 percent of soybeans in good to excellent condition.

Crops are maturing a few days faster than normal, with nearly half of the corn acres in the dough stage and over 80 percent of soybeans setting pods.