Frustratingly slow fall harvest

As of Sunday, November 1, corn harvest in Indiana was 28 percent complete, which according to the Indiana field office of the National Ag Statistics Service puts it about 25 days behind average. Soybean harvest at 63 percent is roughly 16 days behind normal. And the condition of the corn dropped two points from a week ago, 60 percent is in good to excellent condition.

There have been years when Randy Curless of Wabash County has been done with harvest by Halloween, but not this year.

“We’ve not got any corn in yet and still don’t have all of our beans,” said Curless. “We get one or two good days and then it decides to rain, so yeah, it’s been frustrating.”

Curless says they need a week to 10 days of good harvest weather to get the crop in the bin. In the meantime, they’re going to be putting in some longer days.

“And we hope everyone is watching for us on the roads, because we are having to work some late hours,” Curless said. “That means moving some pretty good sized equipment down the road in the dark.”

AUDIO: Randy Curless, Wabash County Indiana (1:25 MP3)

Looking at some of the other numbers from the Weekly Crop and Weather Report:

55 percent of winter wheat has been seeded, but some intended acreage probably won’t be planted because of weather delaying harvest activities.

The pasture condition is 58 percent good to excellent.

Topsoil moisture in the state is 99 percent adequate to surplus.