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Rain slows early harvest in Minnesota

Rainfall, heavy in some places, slowed harvest activities in Minnesota.

The latest USDA progress report says the soybean harvest reached 15 percent as of Sunday, four days ahead of normal.

The corn silage harvest advanced to 85 percent, 11 days faster than average.  There were also scattered reports of corn for grain being harvested.

University of Minnesota Extension soybean agronomist Seth Naeve tells Brownfield early yield reports can be deceptive.

“Those aren’t very good indicators of what the full-season beans are, especially this year when quite a bit of the state had a little bit of dry weather in August.  And those really early (soybeans) weren’t able to take advantage of it.”

Naeve says he did hear reports of very dry soybeans before last week’s rain, with some moisture readings at five to six percent.