First fields of corn, soybean harvest complete

TOULON, Ill. — Corn and soybean harvest has begun for Cliff Lane with yields ranging from average to above average.

“Last Tuesday we started with corn and we harvested close to 100 acres,” said Lane, who is married to Tammy and farms in Stark County.

“We switched to soybeans two days ago and we have about 100 acres of beans done at this point,” he said on Oct. 8. “We did a 28-acre field at my dad’s and that field went 82 bushels which is above average.”

When Lane started harvesting soybeans, moisture was at 12.9%.

“Now they are at 11% and they are standing good, yielding good and not cutting hard,” he said.

Lane was harvesting in a 160-acre field.

“It is about 145 acres tillable when you take out the waterways and the CRP area in the corner,” he said. “We have to have the waterways, but they are constant upkeep and maintenance to mow and spray for weeds.”

Beans that were harvested yesterday, Lane said, were hauled to the elevator with the help of his brother, Jeff, and his dad, John.

“Today we are filling a small bin, so when the bin is full, we can shut it up, in case it rains tomorrow,” Lane said.

“These are XtendFlex soybeans that we sprayed with Roundup and Liberty and we got a little more aggressive with our residual,” the farmer said. “And they were post sprayed late because it got wet and we could not get in the field.”

“Like a lot of farmers, we sold some $10 beans, and when the market got to $10.50 to $11, we sold more,” he said. “We also sold some above $12, and now when we are getting yields like this, I just sold some yesterday morning at $12.66.”

Lane has received reports of bean yields in Iowa in the 70- to 90-bushel-per-acre range.

“And I heard 80 to 90 bushels from guys just south of us, so pretty soon market pressure will probably push prices down,” he said.

However, there have also been some problems with soybean quality and soybeans that are moldy in Iowa, due to excess moisture.

“There’s a farmer by Erie that had a couple of soybean loads rejected because of quality,” Lane said.

“A wet bean that has not dried down yet is not going to sprout,” he said. “But if the beans get dry enough and start soaking up water again, there is a chance the beans could sprout.”

For corn, some farmers are dealing with stalk rot and crown rot issues.

“Locally I have not seen anything to concern me,” the Stark County farmer said. “In some of our low swales, we didn’t have a lot of water standing, but it was saturated so there is a little bit of red crown rot.”

“We have soil moisture which we have not had the last couple of falls,” he said. “That should make fall tillage go better and cover crops should do better this year.”

After corn harvest, Lane is planning an application of dry fertilizer blended with rye for a cover crop in one pass on all the cornstalks.

The goal for Lane is to complete his soybean harvest before switching back to corn.

“If we do not get rained out, we should be able to stay on beans until we get them all done,” he said. “If the weather holds, we should be done with beans in about a week.”

In addition to farming with his dad and brother, Lane is also a regional sales manager for Cornelius Seed.

“Communication is important for balancing between my work and the farm,” he said. “We have to keep communication open so that everybody knows what is going on.”

For example, earlier in the day, Lane was involved with an interview on Zoom.

“We are interviewing for a district sales manager and last week I took off one afternoon to go to a plot tour in southern Wisconsin,” the RSM said.

“Yesterday, I went to a lunch meeting with our district sales managers and our technology and innovation lead to roll out a new program that is going to make it easier for them to see their customer information,” he said.