Harvest in Central Iowa is still going at a fast pace. The lack of rain during harvest has made for a faster than normal harvest. Soybeans are almost all harvested at this point with a wide variance of yields. Averages in the 40’s have been fairly consistent. In certain areas that caught more timely rains, fields averages have been right at 60 – that’s as good as a “normal” year!
There won’t be much corn left to combine in another 10 days from now in the central part of the state.
Corn has really dried down with moistures running around 16% and in some cases even drier. The test weight has been remarkably better than expected running 57-61 pounds/bushel. Yields have been so variable with a 200 bushel difference in one pass across the field. In general, the more defensive hybrids that were able to handle the stress have fared better.
The variability we’ve seen this fall is yet another reason to plant a portfolio of products each year. There is great importance in planting a diversified plan with both offensive and defensive hybrids to spread out the risk.
Rootworm on continuous corn fields of three years or more has been an issue. Moving forward, farmers should consider these options:
- Choosing to plant a Smart Stax corn with 2 modes of action
- Rotating the traits planted on the field
- Using dry or liquid insecticide at planting
- Rotating the field back to beans
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