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Hunt talks harvest and yield losses

A Michigan farmer says harvest remains in a holding pattern following recent wet weather.

Bill Hunt tells Brownfield the planting season started nearly two weeks late because of wet fields and harvest is following suit.

“The damp weather is obviously allowing the beans to mature somewhat, and I think as soon as it dries up now, we can finish the beans,” he says.

Hunt says his soybean harvest is two-thirds complete but dryness during June and July has cut up to 15 percent off his yields.

“Some of the corn was pollinating when we had the 90-plus-degree temperature days—that didn’t help pollination,” he shares.  “Soybeans were struggling to get any growth to them, they did not grow as tall as normal.”

Hunt’s waiting to start corn harvest and says he’s concerned about how the crop handled the moisture stress.

Hunt farms nearly 11,000 acres of corn, soybeans, and wheat in Davison.