Not Quite Harvest Time Just Yet
Trent Brandenburg’s earliest-planted corn is “about a week away” from drying below 25% moisture. At that level, he could lower his drying expense at the grain elevator. “Now, if there’s an incentive…, ” Trent indicated that an elevator offering a special on drying could get some of his early corn if the incentive was big enough. The Illinois August rainfall was 4.43 inches, 0.87 inches above normal, not good for field dry-down nearing harvest. So Trent has to decide to dry or not, and when to start harvest.
Experienced farm operators like Trent are always balancing variables such as whether (or how much) drying expense to incur in order to maximize crop return. The timing of harvest operations enters into the value judgement. Will there be a weather delay to the harvest? Might there be a dalay in getting parts for a harvest machinery repair? There are many decisions like this between the act of faith in planting seeds in the spring to taking the elevator check to the bank in the fall.
More from The Field Report
In a Drought, but Corn is Too Wet to Harvest
The current Illinois drought map (11 September) shows severe drought in the northern 40% of Piatt County and moderate drought in the rest of Piatt and adjacent areas of neighboring counties. Trent Brandenburg has barely started harvesting because his corn [...]
Summertime Mowing And Spraying
Trent Brandenburg has been busy mowing his lawn and his roadsides due to the sunshine and frequent rains making his grass grow as well as his corn and soybeans. He has been hiring aerial spraying of fungicides to suppress disease [...]
Everything Looks Pretty Good, Says Trent
Trent Brandenburg has finished planting except for a few ponds. He is pleased with the germination so far. It is still too wet for side-dressing, but at least the Drought Monitor shows no dryness in Trent's farming area of Central [...]