From the Fields: Shelling has started

There were spotty rains at the end of August. For those who were blessed, the crop looks good. It’s maturing normally. The places that got missed, drydown and destruction of the crop is getting worse by the day. You can just watch those fields where they missed a rain, they are drying down and dying off. Corn is turning brown faster, beans are turning faster.

We have some customers whose beans are dying because it’s so dry. That’s not normal and no rain in the first half of September is not good for finishing the crop, whether it’s corn or first-crop beans or double crops, for that matter. For double-crop beans, it’s really important for a rain to happen and some guys missed that at the end of August. If it doesn’t rain soon, it’s going to take the top off the yields for double crops.

Shelling has started. Some guys are starting and I am hearing corn moisture levels of 23% to 32%. For the guys who missed the rains, the corn plants simply shut down. Silage is on the last chopping and finishing up.

Our yield appraisals are from 50 on the low end to 210, 220 on the better soils. Sometimes those numbers are in the same field, literally 50 feet apart — it’s that variable. We are preparing for widely variable yields, losses in one spot and not in another, depending on soil type and rainfall.