According to the latest USDA Crop Progress Report, 10 percent of Indiana’s corn and 12 percent of the state’s soybeans are now harvested.
“I would say that number is correct for the corn, but not for the beans. I would say we’re probably about 20 percent harvested on the soybeans,” according to Mark Seib who farms in Posey County in southwestern Indiana.
He tells Hoosier Ag Today that many of the corn crops in his area just aren’t dry enough quite yet.
“We had to do quite a bit of replanting,” says Seib. “Some of that was done in the fields as the corn was standing, so we just went back in and did a replant.
“A friend of mine was shelling corn last Sunday, and he said the monitor on the moisture tester on his combine was jumping anywhere from 23 to 30 percent. That was creating havoc for his dryer, so he was pulling out and going to try to find some more dry soybeans to harvest instead.”
Seib says they’ve received around two inches of rain over the past several days. Even though it’s caused a temporary pause to harvest, he says the moisture is very much needed.
“Beans are pretty much done. They’ve turned, but the rain should help the corn a little bit more,” says Seib. “We have been dry way too long. We were into a no-burn situation for a lot of the counties around here in the southwest side of Indiana. It was getting pretty bad. We were also seeing some damage to trees that were starting to show up from the lack of moisture, so things are getting pretty tight down here. We don’t really want to ‘mud it in’, so we’re hoping that Mother Nature will be a little bit kinder with us and give us the opportunity to keep going.”
CLICK BELOW to hear the full harvest update from southwestern Indiana with Posey County farmer Mark Seib.
