i'm not a farmer...but

[lungdeflator]

Yea that makes sense. I also just saw a few graphs in a class that showed soil moisture over a 100 yard stretch or so. They were all in the woods but interesting. Measurements were taken every half yard. There were some pretty severe peaks and dips where soil moisture went from pretty high so pretty low within a couple yards. It would make sense if that coorelates to a bigger picture where one field is dry and ready but the one next to it is too wet.

[BobT]

I don't think wet ground is the explanation, they can just come back later when the ground freezes. Its either:

a)high propane prices

farming so much ground that they ran out of time before the first big snow came - snow running thru combines plugs them up

c)poor yield due to drought (yes some areas were dry), more economical to leave until spring d) older equipment, they can't cover as much ground

e) a combination of the above

You’re kidding, right? You must be. Either that or you’ve missed a year.

In 2009 most of MN was still in a drought. Today, with the exception of the eastern part of the arrowhead, we are very wet. Everything west and south of a line from La Crosse to Roseau is considered “extremely moist.” Everything north and east of that line to Duluth is “very moist.” Everything east of that line from Duluth to I-Falls is “moist.” (source = Palmer Drought Index of MN)

The Red River is still flowing higher than normal for this time of year, which is raising concerns for this coming spring. I recently heard there are some rivers in this area that are still rising (don’t recall which ones).

A colleague was just telling me about duck hunting last fall near Worthington in a john boat and outboard over the top of beans without clipping the beans with the prop and I remember hearing about corn fields that only showed the tassels over the water. That’s got to be about six feet of water. Imagine the bass fishery that could have made!

Corn last fall was actually coming off the field dry enough that it didn’t require drying (unusual in MN) so propane cost was a non-issue.

As promised, here’s the information from my personal almanac from last year. The numbers in parenthesis are the average rainfall for Osakis according to Weather dot com.

May - 3.05” (3.02”)

June - 6.2” (4.38”)

July - 8.6” ( 3.29”)

August - 7.7” (3.55”)

September – 6.1” (2.71”)

October – 4.1” (2.16)

As can be seen, we got at least double the average rain in July, August, September, and October. On September 25, the valve was turned off until October 23. This was our window of opportunity but we had to wait for things to dry and then the market was backlogged.

After going without rain for four weeks straight my ground was still too wet for decent fall tillage. I managed to muck my way through it but it was a poor job at best but I know from experience that a poor job in the fall is better than a great job in the spring.

Between October 23 and October 31 we picked up the 4.1” for October. November was dry until the 30th when we got 6” of snow. I finally finished my tilling in late October and my neighbor finally managed to get the last of his corn out in early December after the snow and it got cold enough to stiffen the ground. They were driving in water with 4x4s and front wheel assist equipment. Others were not so lucky.

I almost forgot to mention that last year, we faired much better than most of the rest of the state with regard to rainfall, especially southern MN.

[CaptainBly]

I hear ya, I heard there were guys with track combines going through water and they had water in their hoppers. True or not I don't know. The guy I help took out the last of his beans after it froze, with the bean head on the ice helped carry him across. I was in a quad track doing the tillage, I was amazed what I could go through. With the standing corn should help the wildlife this winter though.

[MJ1657]

Corn last fall was actually coming off the field dry enough that it didn’t require drying (unusual in MN) so propane cost was a non-issue.

Cetain areas that was true but alot of corn was dryed last year.

[matchset]

but WHY in my area (which is essentially a sand box) are there acres and acres of corn up and NOT beans...

BobT...whats your take on this?

[MJ1657]

Beans will not make it through the winter like corn will.

Some farmers make a business decision to leave their corn crop in the field to naturally dry down.

Some do not want to invest in bins to store their crop.

If they have their crop contracted for the spring (which many do)they can leave it in the field and not have to have the investment in bins or pay for storage.

The primary market in our area is terminals on the Mississippi river. When the river freezes you cannot deliver corn. Meaning that grain has to be stored somewhere.

Soil moisture is not directly related to the moisture of the corn. Yes wet ground can slow the process of corn drying down but the two are not 100% tied together.

It all comes down to a farmer making a decision on what to do with his crop.

[BobT]

I'm no expert and there are others with much more experience than I. Most of my knowledge about corn will come from conversations and observations I've had with neighbors and literature I've read.

I know that around here corn was coming off almost over-dry in some cases but as a rule of thumb it was considerably drier than the average year. I also work with a fellow that spends a fair amount of time in the Worthington area (he has in-laws there that farm thousands of acres) and he confirmed the same scenario was true for his in-laws. Over all, the corn crop in MN was much more mature and therefore drier at harvest than average and as a result artificial drying was less of an issue.

Here’s another example. Due to wet conditions farmers that raise corn for chopping for silage were unable to get into the fields. The corn got too mature and dry forcing many of them to combine their corn instead of chopping.

Here’s something else to consider. In terms of wet ground, this area was actually in better shape than most areas north and especially south of here. I sat here and waited for things to dry but I couldn’t help but feel mixed emotions as I counted my blessing while at the same time felt concerned for others that had to deal with the flooding I was hearing about. For some reason many of the summer weather patterns coming out of the Dakotas tend to split around us. I don’t know why that is but I suspect it is the Red River and Minnesota River valleys that steer those storms or the concentration of lakes in the area from Alexandria to Brainerd. It’s uncanny how often storm systems stretching from Canada to Nebraska will hit the MN border and split right around us and then converge again before hitting the Twin Cities area.

Why is corn still standing and not beans? I think MJ1657 gave a good explanation. Here are a few more reasons I think contribute in this decision to give priority to beans.

* Bean seeds are not as well sealed as corn seeds. As a result, bean seed is more susceptible to taking on moisture from rain or high humidity. If we start to go through freeze-thaw cycles after beans mature, the pods can shatter and drop the beans to the ground. Chances are if you left beans standing all winter you won’t have much, if anything, left in the spring to harvest. Corn seed is not as vulnerable to this process and it is possible to wait until spring to harvest with less loss. Of course deer, pheasants, raccoons, birds, and dry-down will contribute to some losses but on average the risk is lower with corn than beans.

* Bean pods are found from ground up on the stalk. It doesn’t take much snow to cover beans making it pretty much impossible to harvest them during the winter. Corn cobs on the other hand are found much higher off the ground. As long as the combine can move and the head can be raised over the layer of snow on the ground and the cobs are clean the odds are higher that it might be possible to harvest the corn during the winter.

* Snow cover adds to the risk of moisture damage to the crop and because the beans are closer to the ground and more vulnerable to moisture there is a greater chance for problems if they lay buried in snow all winter.

* Bean stalks are not as strong as corn and are more prone to being laid down by wind and snow than corn.

[MJ1657]

You nailed it on the beans Bob.

I combined crops in 5 states this year for many many farmers. There are alot of different ideas out there on what to do with your crops.

[pureinsanity]

put some skis on that combine and get pickin!

[ac777]

Another reason is that in sw mn, Where we farm the ground is very heavy and doesnt drain as well as sugar sand. So you want to get the corn off and blacken it up to help it dry out in the spring faster to be able to plant earlier. Sugar sand areas drain out quick and keeping that corn on the field will add more moisture to the ground which can help out the field to a point. Another thing is that with all the newer genetics, the corn is much stronger and able to stand up all winter whereas the older genetics werent as strong and corn would knock over through out the winter causing more yield loss. As stated above, beans dont handle the winter very well so thats why you don't see them left standing very often.

[picksbigwagon]

my experience is I have never seen corn harvested before beans, except sweet corn, I would assume it has to go with germination time and the time it takes to mature the crop. BobT?

[MJ1657]

You are correct. Beans mature before corn. We have combined corn before beans when we are filling silo with high moisture corn. Thats about the only time that happens.

[BobT]

Typically, in Minnesota the corn crop never really fully matures. That's why artifical methods are employed to dry it down for storage. This past year was a challenge due to many factors that put both the bean and corn harvest on top of each other and this created a huge bottleneck for shipping.