By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
OSAGE, Iowa -- Iowa; farmers headed to the field last week to begin harvesting.
Scott Niess and his cousin Vernon Niess started combining soybeans with moisture was 13 percent.
"Yields are okay,'' Scott said. "They won't be like last year, but they're okay.''
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"I feel fortunate for what I have, but this crop isn't a bin-buster,'' Scott said.
Harvest is just getting started, said Pat Derdzinski, Butler County Extension education director in Allison.
"I've seen just a few acres of corn and beans out,'' Derdzinski said. "I'm hearing bean yields are lower than expected in the 20s to 30s. Bean size is small. Corn yields are better than expected.''
Derdzinski said there is tremendous moisture range in corn. In the same field, some areas are 16 percent to 18 percent and some are 30 percent to 30-plus percent. A few beans and a little bit of corn had been harvested in his area last week, said Paul Kasel, Iowa State University Extension field specialist for crops based in Spencer. It will probably be the end of this week before bean harvest is really under way.
"Four years ago we had similar conditions where it quit raining in mid-July and never rained again during the growing season,'' Kasel said. "Crops were quite good that year although light areas were severely impacted.''
Kasel said there is more concern about soybean yields. "Beans don't look as good. Pod counts are not very good, but we've been fooled before. Beans are the wildcard.''
George Cummins, ISU Extension field specialist for crops based in Charles City, said there are lots of questions about crop yields.
"The consensus is that corn yields are poor to very good depending on location, rainfall amount and timing, soil type and planting date,'' Cummins said.
