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Wet weather slows harvest progress across Western Corn Belt

A pair of farmers in the Western Corn Belt say wet weather has impacted this year’s harvest pace.

Scott Gigstad raises corn and soybeans in eastern Kansas and says recent moisture has delayed the end of corn harvest. “We’re probably 60 to 70 percent done. Here in the last 3 or 4 days, we’ve hit a rainy spell. We’ve had about three-quarters to an inch of rain.”

Gigstad soybean yields were above average, but disease pressure impacted his corn crop. “Our yields on corn are not quite as good as they were a year ago, but they are still excellent for our area.”

Northeast Nebraska farmer Quentin Conneally tells Brownfield his soybeans needed to dry out most of the mornings. “Bean harvest took awhile. Now, we’re onto corn and getting through it as fast as we can. We’re behind our average pace, but still probably depending on the next rain they’re calling for this week, I’m hoping we are finished around the first weekend in November.”

He says corn yields have been disappointing. “The wind damaged corn has been picked already. We’re into a little better stuff. Southern rust moved in. From what I’ve been seeing, I think our overnight temps didn’t get down low enough and we lost some yield there.”     

But, Conneally says, most of his soybean crop was above average this year.