Harvest Updates from Iowa Corn leaders on Thurs., Oct. 20, 2011

Harvest Updates from Iowa Corn Leaders – Thursday, October 20, 2011

Mark Recker of Arlington is slowly combining downed corn. Today he was running the combine at two miles per hour in one direction. Many farmers in his area are dealing with the same challenges. If the corn isn’t completely flat, a lot of corn is leaning. He credits the auto-steer feature on his combine to help him get through the downed corn and still obtain good yields. Corn moisture levels are from 18 to 21 percent. Yields in his area are good, around 200+ bushels per acre, even in downed corn.

In north-central Iowa, Deb Keller of Clarion is combining lodged and downed corn too. Those corn conditions are pretty widespread in the southern part of her county. Moisture is around 15 percent. Yields are ranging from 175 to 200 bushels per acre. She estimates about 70 percent of the corn harvest is complete in that area. A few farmers who are done with harvest are doing some fall tillage. She expects to see more tillage next week.

Roscoe Eggers of State Center has lodged corn, from the July 11 wind storm, so corn harvest is taking longer. Today he was harvesting corn in a field where the rows ran east and west so the lodging wasn’t quite as bad and yields were a little better too. He estimates that corn harvest is about 60 percent complete in his area and soybean harvest is done.