The return of wintry weather to Minnesota brought a sudden end to to this year's harvest.
In some cases, farmers were not able to get all of their corn harvested before the snow began flying, according to Lisa Behnken, an extension educator with the University of Minnesota. While other farmers were able to get all their corn out of the field, the quick cold snap means they didn't get a chance to make corn stock bales or finish tilling their land.
"Absolutely the snowfall was a problem, and basically everything came to an abrupt halt on Tuesday, Nov. 11," Behnken said.
Despite the chilly weather and only 2.7 days suitable for fieldwork this week, farmers managed to harvest 95 percent of the state's corn crop — that's 11 days ahead of normal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service. The snowy weather does mean that some standing corn will have to wait until spring to be harvested.
When it comes to corn yields, Behnken said results vary widely, depending on location. While some farmers in the state saw yields as low as 90 bushels per acre, others saw yields of 300 bushels per acre. Minnesota's average corn yield this year is projected to be 165 bushels per acre, according to the USDA.
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"It's a highly variable crop as far as yield and condition that that crop came out of the field in," Behnken said. "For some folks, it was a very good year, they had a really good crop, a lot of bushels out there, did well. For others, it was very disappointing."
While corn is selling for less than half of what it was two years ago, the price of $3.25 per bushel is still better than some analysts were expecting, said Dave Heins, employee at All-American Co-op in Eyota.
"To some of us it seems like an awful good price yet. We were expecting a lot lower because there's a big crop," he said.
Part of the reason for the better-than-expected price might have to do with farmers opting to store their grain instead of selling it, Heins said. The big question weighing on the minds of farmers is whether those prices will go down.
Heins added, "Looming in the back of our mind is is this going to be the '80s where crop prices are below production costs for a couple of years? Time will tell."
