View from the Cab: A good harvest
By: Kent Casson
While it feels like harvest may never finish when you are in the heart of it, everything suddenly ends and the fall season is nothing more than a distant memory.
We are nearing that finish line as of this writing and are down to the final few standing corn rows left to combine. It is a big relief the soybeans are all done since the weather is a big gamble this time of year. Corn isn’t as big of a deal since you can harvest it in almost any type of weather.
Yields were good, the weather was almost ideal, everyone stayed safe and we all got through another year. What else could one ask for? Our harvest was completed in a little over a month’s time and I don’t recall a season since 2010 when everything came out of the field so quickly. That year was a bit different especially since we started in late August and were finished before October 1.
Considering the weather extremes from the spring and summer along with later planting dates in some locations, we were fortunate to get the crops out when we did. Harvest did start off a little slow, especially since we did not start until September 24. I thought of it as an extended Labor Day weekend. After all, we all need a holiday or two now and then.
For those fortunate enough to be done taking the crops off, the weather throughout October has been ideal for doing other types of fieldwork like seeding cover crops, mowing roadsides and fall tillage. The anhydrous ammonia application season will be starting before too long along with fall chemical burndowns to stay ahead of weeds for the next growing season.
As I speak to more farmers each day, they are gradually getting all done and heck, some even have the equipment cleaned and put away. We aren’t there yet but soon will be. Then, the planning really kicks into high gear for 2023. How much corn are we going to plant? What about input prices? Are markets going to move up or down? These are all questions on everyone’s mind.
With conflicts around the world, supply issues and market volatility, agriculture is full of uncertainty as it usually is. What keeps happening with Russia and Ukraine and how much South America will produce are factors that will continue weighing heavily on crop prices here. We have been lucky to have the higher crop prices lately since the various costs have been climbing right with the prices. Hopefully the bottom doesn’t fall out of these markets anytime soon.
If you get the chance, take a look around at the remaining fall colors out there – they won’t last long as some trees have already lost many of their leaves. Rain and wind will do that this time of year.
