News

Indiana harvest trying to catch up

Still running quite a few days behind pace, corn and soybean harvest were making up ground until rain showers and cooler temperatures moved in last week.  Corn is 23 days behind and the soybean crop is now 16 days behind last year’s record pace.

Corn continues to play catch up as 87 percent of the crop is now matured compared to 100 percent a year ago; 30 percent has been harvested – well behind last year when nearly 90 percent of the crop was out of the ground.  The average moisture content so far this year is 21 percent.

Soybean harvest is also running behind last year as 95 percent of the crop is now shedding leaves compared to 100 percent last year; 55 percent of the soybean acreage has been harvested compared to 88 percent last year at this time.  Harvested soybeans are averaging 12 percent moisture.

In other crops around the state; 51 percent of the winter wheat acreage has been planted compared to 65 percent last year and 14 percent has emerged compared to 19 percent on year ago.  The majority of Indiana’s tobacco crop has been harvested, slightly behind a year ago.  Finally, pasture conditions continue to improve as 23 percent is listed in good to excellent condition – a huge improvement over the 6 percent in 2010.