Wet October 2021 keeping area farmers harvesting fields until Thanksgiving

FARMLAND — Drew Cleveland, a farmer who works the soil south of town, summed up a fearful predicament no one wants to think about.

"You definitely don't want to be harvesting in the snow," he said.

Combines won't work well harvesting soybeans nestled in snow, and corn stalks start to weaken and will eventually fall over the longer they are left standing unharvested.

October, the heart of the harvest season in Indiana, was wetter and warmer that normal, which kept farmers from harvesting as much as usual, said Daniel J. Quinn, assistant professor of agronomy at Purdue University in West Lafayette.

That means corn, while bountiful, with yields expected at record levels, remains vulnerable while it waits in the field.