Fields aflutter as local farmers get the grain

A relatively ordinary harvest season is a good thing for local farmers, according to Growmark FS agronomist Alic Mohni.

"It's been a pretty uneventful," he said. "Some guys are pretty happy, some others maybe not so much. But there hasn't really been anything unexpected this fall."

Warm, dry weather has allowed local farmers to hit fields hard over the past two weeks. Mohni said most soybean fields around Hartley will be out by the weekend, with farmers soon shifting their focus to corn.

Mohni said soybean yields around Hartley have averaged between 55-65 bushels per acre. The further north you go, the better things get.

"[Yields] followed the rain," he said.

It was worse farther south due to drier conditions during the growing season. Precipitation was extremely spotty in northwest Iowa this year, with some fields lucking out and others feeling the singe of drought.

Some farmers started the corn harvest this week. With a relatively dry 10-day forecast, Mohni expected progress to march forward relatively undaunted.

"I haven't got a ton of corn yields in yet, but some of the stuff that's come in has been 16 to 18 percent moisture," he said. "Around Hartley, I think yields could be in the 190-225 range."