Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

It’s been a surprisingly good harvest this year in parts of Minnesota, following a summer that featured severe drought across much of the state. September rains and a mild autumn produced more bushels than expected.

“We still have not had a killing frost,” Brad Neumann reported on Oct.1 19, from his farm near Wabasso. “So, it seems like the fuller-season crops had a chance to benefit from those rains that came in September.”

Minnesota’s average corn yield is projected to be 178 bushels per acre, which would be a bushel and a half above the projected national average. It would be a step back from last year’s harvest, when Minnesota growers averaged 191 bushels per acre, but higher than the 2019 yield of 173 bushels per acre.

“Corn was right on track where we thought, a little below average but nothing too terrible,” said Angela Guentzel, who farms corn and soybeans between St. Peter and Mankato. “(In the south-central part of the state) we got very minimal rain, but the rain we did get was exactly the right timing.”

Some farmers, however, did not fare so well. In areas with sandier soil, some producers saw their corn wouldn’t reach full maturity, and cut it for silage. In the hardest hit areas, the crops withered away to thin stalks with little or no grain. The best farmers could do was to bail it up like hay to use as winter feed.

Still, some Minnesota corn farmers are finding cause to breathe a small sign of relief as they look at their crop yields during what was a challenging weather year.

“(Harvest) went better than I expected,” said Dave Vipond, who farms near Mahnomen in northwestern Minnesota. “I thought we would have a 100-120-bushel-per-acre crop on the high side, and we ended up with about a 140-bushel-per-acre crop.”

He attributes the relative success to conditions that led this crop to be the most deeply and firmly rooted he has seen. The soil profile last spring was supercharged with moisture, and the drain tiles were running, but the topsoil was dry and remained dry, causing the roots to delve deep, seeking water.

“We had good heat units, very good growing conditions, a lot of sunny days, and so the crop took advantage of all that, and, for as little rain as we had, we never really saw the crop wilt. Almost not at all. A few spots. The sandy spots,” Vipond said. “For the most part, the crop just kept growing, and drilling deep.”

One of the key concerns for farmers now is whether they have enough soil moisture to get the 2022 crop off to a good start next spring.

“The fact that we came into spring of 2021 with average soil moisture helped the crop hang on in 2021,” Neumann said. He pointed to a report that calculated the rainfall to date at the Lamberton experiment station at 19.84 inches. The annual average for the area is 24.36 inches. “We certainly have some room in the profile before freeze up (for more moisture). The tile lines are not running.”

On the other hand, the beautiful autumn weather has allowed farmers to make speedy progress with this year’s harvest. Guentzel said they have had one day of rain since they got their combines rolling. They are done with soybeans and very close to getting the last of the corn crop into the bin. This puts them about a month ahead of the typical pace, she said.

“The weather has been beautiful, and we’ve been out for most of harvest wearing T-shirts, instead of our usual heavy jackets,” Vipond said. “One of my sons said to me, ‘Dad, this must be what it’s like to harvest corn in Illinois.’”