Harvest is slow going
Throughout the region and across several different crops, harvest is running a bit behind the usual timeline. Late planting, temperatures and hail have all had an impact this year.
Early harvests for both sugar beets and potatoes recently wrapped up. What would have been the first day of early harvest for sugar beets was stopped by rain. It was able to begin Sept. 10, though, and lasted through Sept. 17.
Sugar at that time was close to 15%, which is good for this time of year, Les Watada of Western Sugar said. Though every grower has different tonnage, Watada heard reports of mid-to-high-20s and 30 tons per acre. In the Holyoke area, sugar beets are done until the Oct. 9 regular harvest.
At Western Potatoes, early harvest began the first week of the month and finished up Sept. 23, Steve Moore said. The early harvest in particular was good quality, and the current storage harvest being done now isn’t bad either. Overall, potato harvest is about one-third complete, which is slightly behind due to temperatures.
Millet harvest in the area is nearing completion. Steve Young estimated it was about 80% done within the CHS Grainland trade territory at the beginning of the week. Similarly, Steve Bahnsen of Paoli Farmers Co-op said it was about three-fourths complete.
Young has seen a lot of variance in yield this year due to hail. Overall, it’s not too bad. Bahnsen said the quality he’s seen has been really good, though a bit weedier than usual. Yields have ranged from the low-40s to 60 bushels per acre.
Jack’s Bean has seen product trickling in for about two weeks now, but it’s slow going, Tom Harmon said. Beans were planted late, so kidneys are about 20% done and pintos about 30%.
On fields that haven’t been hailed, Harmon’s seen nice quality. Hail and weather have led to marginal results in other fields, though.
Over the weekend, CHS Grainland had a corn sample in the high-20s range, so Young expects it will still be a while before corn harvest gets going. For popcorn, Harmon guesses it will start being harvested around Oct. 1. So far, popcorn quality is looking good, though three circles have already been hailed.