News

Record yields in parts of Upper Midwest

Some farmers in the Upper Midwest are reporting unmatched yields this fall.

Peterson Farms Seed president Carl Peterson says the company works with growers in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota.

“A lot of farmers are having both the best soybean crop they’ve ever had, and the best corn crop they’ve ever had.”

He tells Brownfield corn and soybean yields in the Fargo area–where the company is based–are similar to those in southern Minnesota and Iowa, which is not typical.

However, that doesn’t mean every farmer in the region grew a bin-buster crop this year.

“In the northern part of the Red River Valley (it was) an extremely wet season.  So there’s some pockets up there where its been a tough year.  And there’s been some major hail events across the region.”

The USDA is projecting record soybean yields in both North and South Dakota this year.

North Dakota is expected to produce a record corn crop in 2016, while South Dakota anticipates a top-three harvest historically.