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MO harvest wraps up, fall fieldwork continues

A Norborne, Missouri farmer is finished with corn and soybean harvest. Kyle Durham says the dry conditions allowed for a quicker harvest pace and variable yields.

“A lot of the sandier soils were hit hard. We were hopeful we’d had enough moisture early on that the crops would put roots down and benefit from being near the Missouri River, but in some spots, that wasn’t the case. A lot of the heavier clay soils held onto what moisture was available. We had record yields on those fields.”

Durham says it’s been almost too dry for fall anhydrous applications and area farmers are up against a fall application deadline.

“Typically, we put our fertilizer on during the spring. We apply some anhydrous and later in the growing season, we apply dry fertilizer over the top. It’s yet to be seen what spring will look like for the farmers who apply fertilizer in the fall.”

In the last week, USDA says Missouri had five days suitable for field work, with below normal precipitation and cold temperatures.