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Harvest ending quickly approaching

A southeast Kansas farmer says corn harvest is almost wrapped up. 

Ben Bellar says yields have been a pleasant surprise. 

“We’ve kind of done our better fields, so we’re tapering off for just a little bit, but we’re still very happy with those,” he says. “And I’ve heard anywhere from just OK to really good on neighboring farmers. So I know a lot of people further east of us are done.”

In its latest crop progress report, USDA says corn in Kansas is rated 42 percent good to excellent with 92 percent of the crop in the dough stage, 69 percent dented, and 31 percent is mature.

As for his soybeans and double crop soybeans, he tells Brownfield, “I need rain.”

“My regular season, my full season soybeans, they’re going to make a crop,” he says. “They’re just hurting. The beans themselves aren’t hurting, but a rain would certainly make them. Our double crops, if we don’t get a rain, there might not be much of a harvest there right now.

The USDA says the soybean crop is rated 47 percent good to excellent, with 87 percent of the crop setting pods.