As of last Friday, about 91 percent of the corn planted in Indiana was mature and 34 percent had been harvested, but that puts Hoosier farmers behind their 2016 pace, when 97 percent of the corn crop was mature and half had already been harvested, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.
The NASS also reported that 44 percent of the corn crop seemed to be in good share with 13 percent of it earning a rating of excellent.
Ninety-five percent of the 2017 soybean crop had dropped leaves as of Oct. 15, equal to the percentage seen at the same time last year.
Soybean harvesting was slightly ahead of 2016’s pace, at 52 percent, compared to 51 percent last year. Forty-five percent of the soybean crop was rated good, and 13 percent was rated excellent, the NASS reported.
Harvest is behind because of the wet spring, which required many farmers to replant.
Alan Dunn, a Michigantown farmer, said having a firm hold on the status of his harvest is difficult because he had to plant and replant and so has crops at various stages of maturity.
He estimated it may be December before all of his crops have been harvested.
Greg Malti, state statistician for the NASS, said the rain last week was needed for the crops still maturing and to get sown winter wheat off to a good start. NASS reports that 45 percent of Indiana’s winter wheat has been planted and 21 percent emerged, behind 2016’s rates of 49 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
“Farmers welcomed the rain as it helped restore moisture levels in dry fields,” the NASS reported, but the rain did require that fields dry out before equipment could begin harvesting again.
As president of the Clinton County Council, Dunn was OK with rain the morning of Oct. 10, when he presided over the regular meeting of the Clinton County Council, but as a farmer the week’s precipitation provided him and other Hoosier harvesters with fewer days for fieldwork.
Both temperatures and precipitation for the week were well above average, with the thermometer sitting at an average of 63.8 degrees, 8.6 degrees above normal, and rainfall reaching 1.35 inches, 0.83 inches over the average.