West Central Iowa by Travis Slusher
It has been wet, cold and dreary in my area over the last couple of days. Thankfully, we haven’t received any heavy precipitation or damaging weather. Area farmers had 4 or 5 good days of soybean harvest. One of my soybean plots was harvested, with the GenuityTM Roundup Ready 2 YieldTM (RR2Y) beans yielding in the 70 bushel range. When adjusted to check, the plot winner came in at 77.9 bushels/acre (L2958R2)! Other reports show the L2658R having good yield results in the mid- to upper 60-bushel range across entire fields. One dealer reported that the L2380 yielded 65.3 bu/A on 70+ acres, which had been sprayed with Headline fungicide. With the excitement and early results of the RR2Y soybeans, I would encourage farmers to get these booked early as there is a lot of interest in them.
There’s not much action yet on the corn harvest as farmers are waiting on the weather to cooperate, so they can get back into the fields. The weather looks to improve over the next couple of days, with rain in the forecast again for the first part of the coming week. I’m wishing everyone a safe and profitable harvest season!
Southeastern Nebraska by Brian Banks
Harvest is moving along in the southern part of our state, but in a lot of places the beans are still a little green. Yields are looking pretty good at this point and the performance of RR2Y soybeans looks very promising. Soybean moisture has been anywhere from 8.8% to 11.5%. Irrigated yields are nearing 80 bu/A and dry land is topping 60 bu/A in places. Areas with severe Sudden Death Syndrome or other diseases are obviously yielding much less. Growers need to take note of these fields to pick the right varieties in the future.
North Central Iowa by Bart Peterson
North Central Iowa is about 50% done combing beans. Corn harvest has not started yet, except end rows on a few fields. The combining of production seed corn is going strong, and a lot of production seed Corn fields are all ready ripped.
Central Iowa by Bob Collins
Bean harvest is well underway and yields have been really good. The rains this week have stopped harvest for the time being.
Minnesota by Jason Obermeyer
Soybean harvest has begun in Minnesota with western parts of the state leading the charge. Yield reports are varied with mid 30′s on sand to as high as the upper 50′s on some better ground. Keep in mind that the next week looks to be awfully wet. When things dry out, it will be full steam ahead and we’ll have a better picture of yield results. White mold and brown stem rot have really hit some fields hard. What would have appeared to be some very nice yielding bean fields a month ago are just not there today due to the damage.
South Dakota by Bill Eichacker
Frost came into parts, but most crops were out of the danger category. Silage cutting has wrapped up, so a few farmers have begun harvesting soybeans. Reports of soybeans yields are coming in strong: 55 bu/A in the Vermillion area; 62 bu/A in the Canton area; and 65 bu/A in the Salem area. All of these yields are above county averages. I heard reports that corn moisture is in the low 20′s with above-average yield. Rain has settled in for the weekend with more rainfall predicted for next week.
Eastern Iowa by Brad Beatty
Soybean harvest has begun here. Yields at this point are good, ranging from 55 to 70 bushels per acre. Harvest has stopped due to rain. Little to no corn has been harvested at this time.
Northern Iowa by Tom Larson
Early harvest numbers are trickling in. It looks like L2085R is still the bean to beat in the Early Group 2 maturity range. It has an outstanding defensive package along with top-end yields. I’m also hearing some positive results from the new Genuity Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans. Rain has chased everyone out of the fields for the weekend, but we’re hoping to resume harvest early next week. For specific yield information for your area, go to www.lathamseeds.com and click on “yield results.â€
Wisconsin by Steve Bailie
Many growers in southern Wisconsin have started to cut beans or harvest corn. Many fields of corn that were hit by hail in July are starting to have stalk issues. The winds that we have had the past two days (20-30 mph) have not helped the stalks’ ability to stand. Given this situation, many growers are starting to harvest these fields. The yields in these fields have been anywhere from 120- to 170- bushels/acre. There have been challenges with moisture in these fields, as well. Across the field, moisture can vary from 18% up to 28% all in a 300-yard stretch.
Many of bean fields have dried down to 13% moisture, some growers have started harvesting. The stems are a little green yet, causing a few problems with combining at this time. There is a forecast for some cold nights that could help this issue. In the northern part of the state, the harvest is about one week away. Growers there are getting anxious to start.
Northwest Iowa by Bruce Anderson
Things are progressing better this week. Some combines are not rolling until mid-afternoon due to the toughness of the stems. Beans are running from 10% to 12% in moisture, and yields continue to be in the 50s. Yields are surprisingly good for the damaging weather conditions that we endured. I counted pods yesterday on a few Roundup Ready 2 Yield plots. Most had three beans in them, and I saw several four-bean pods. The stems are just loaded with pods. I also looked at several Latham Hi-Tech Hybrids, all of which were standing straight as a tree yesterday. There are lots of bushels out there to be combined, so I’m eagerly awaiting yield reports.
North Central Iowa by Kevin Meyer
North Central Iowa producers hit harvest hard for the first half of this week. The scattered frost we received Wednesday morning is generally not going to be a concern for the crops in the area. Soybean yields have been averaging in the mid-50s. L2085R has performed well with its ability to hold off SDS in our area. L2038R is again having a very good year along with L2082R. Very little corn was harvested this week, with soybean harvest taking priority. Variability across the field is a major concern for producers along with nitrogen deficiencies on corn acres. Rain will continue through the weekend and into next week.
Northeast Iowa by Nick Benson
Some of our customers have just started to combine soybeans with very mixed results. The two limiting factors in our area this year were white mold and SDS. One customer relayed a 10-bushel advantage over a 10 day earlier planting date (April 18) on the same variety of soybeans in the same field. This serves as a good reminder about the importance of being able to manage early planting on soybeans as we start looking forward to next spring.
Some of the first results I have heard from silage harvest is on the LH5492GT; this variety has continued to dominate in this arena. Everywhere this thing has been planted, it is showing up awesome from sod ground to lighter river bottoms and even sneaking into the clay hills. I’m very excited to have it available in LH5494 3000GT for those corn-on-corn situations and for extra protection on rotated ground.
We’re currently rained out, so it’s a good time to catch up on repairs and to start our cropping plans for 2010 season!
When I sit down to write articles for our blog, I feel like I'm sitting down with my family at the dinner table, ready to talk about 