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Harvest starts a day earlier than expected

A southeast Minnesota farmer says dry, windy weather Monday allowed harvest to start a day early.

Ryan Buck grows corn and soybeans with his wife’s family in Goodhue County.

They began combining soybeans Tuesday in a lighter-soil field along the Mississippi River.

“(the field) only had about 1 3/10 inches of rain on it when we were getting all that rain last week.  So with yesterday’s low humidity, high winds and then the sun coming out, (the field) was able to dry off a lot quicker than we anticipated.  We were kind of thinking we’d get rolling on Wednesday.”

He tells Brownfield frequent summer rains have resulted in solid yields.

“For sandy ground, we’re right around 55 bushels per acre (on average).  Beans are about 13 1/2 percent moisture.  So things are looking pretty good.”

Buck says some soybeans will be marketed locally, and the other acres are seed beans the family raises for Pioneer.