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Harvest a wet crop now – or wait?

The cool, wet weather is causing a lot of delays at harvest.  In addition to fighting saturated soils, farmers are also harvesting a corn crop that is much wetter than normal.  As calendar moves further into October, farmers are losing that available window for the crop to dry down in the field.

Which begs the question – should farmers harvest the grain at a higher percent moisture and dry it down or is it better to wait?

Purdue professor of agricultural engineering Klein Ileleji, says at this point – it’s better not to wait.  “It’s advisable, if farmers have any period of good weather span for harvest they just harvest the grain at the high moisture and bring it in to dry,” he says.  “It’s better to spend the money drying now rather than leave it out on the field with a lot of uncertainty.”

And, he tells Brownfield, there are additional risks to the crop by leaving it in the field.  “If the rain continues to fall and those ears don’t drop and continues to pick up moisture,” he says, “you might have some sprouting of corn on those ears.”

And with this fall’s current weather pattern, that risk runs higher than normal.