Harvest Progress

Oct 03, 2022

Corn harvest is getting into the swing of things here in South Central Iowa. Corn has been a surprise on how well it is doing based on the dry summer we had. Soybeans are just getting started and thus far I’ve heard anything from 30-60 bushels. Variability is going to be a big issue this year.

One big thing we are noticing this year are the wetter areas in the field early on are struggling on the yield side. This makes sense as early in the season roots could not go down into the soil. Once the drought hit these plants with shallow roots struggled to compete for nutrients. The surprise is that even on the flat high producing fields we are seeing this variability. Areas that water ran or sat for an extended period are struggling. This really shows the importance of tiling and water management.

As we get further into harvest we need look closely at hybrids and varieties to see how they are performing under this drought stress. Hybrids have come a long way and I think that is showing up with the surprisingly good yields we’ve been seeing. We still need to be diligent though and fine tune hybrid performance. It can really mean the difference between success and a disaster. With high input costs we can’t afford to have any disasters moving forward. Reach out to any of the SFG Agronomists about what their seeing in the field and how that can help for the 2023 season.