Minnesota and Iowa farmers are making up for lost time on the fall harvest, thanks to drier weather.
The Minnesota crop report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture says 5.3 days were suitable for fieldwork during the week that ended Sunday. That's the most days suitable since the first week of August.
While the drier weather allowed for harvesting in most areas of the state, some fields or spots were still too wet to harvest.
Almost one-quarter of Minnesota's soybean acreage was harvested last week. Eighty-seven percent of the soybean acreage was harvested, slightly ahead of average but a week behind last year.
Nearly all of Minnesota's corn acreage is mature. Thirty-seven percent of corn for grain is harvested, six days behind the five-year average and five days behind last year.
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Farmers have made further progress harvesting corn and soybeans in Iowa, but rain has slowed the process.
The USDA says Iowa farmers reported waiting for crops to dry in the field before harvesting.
About a third of the Iowa corn crop is harvested, about a week behind the five-year average and 62 percent of soybeans are out of the field. The five-year average at this point in the year is 74 percent.
