Wet Weather Woes
|  Video
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| Cliff Naylor |
| 10/19/2009 |
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| North Dakota`s wet spring and summer is being followed by a wet and snowy fall. Two snowstorms have already turned the ground in much of the state white, and while the early snows will melt before winter sets in, many farmers may not get row crops harvested before the seasons change again, unless Mother Nature provides them with some dry weather. In North Dakota, it`s common to see autumn snow coat the state`s sunflower and corn crops, but acres and acres of soybeans covered in white is an unusual sight. October snowstorms have stopped many of the state`s combines right in their tracks, delaying the harvest of many late season crops. "There`s a lot of corn and soybeans in the field, the soybean harvest has just gotten going here and certain areas haven`t even started," says Williard Hoeft, of Hankinson. In a normal year almost all the state`s soybeans are cut by Halloween, but the 2009 growing season has been anything but normal. Wet weather prevented Brandon Wahler and many other farmers from seeding beans until early June and now wet weather is delaying the harvest. "We thought we were lucky getting them in and now we`re sitting her battling trying to get them off," Wahler says. Precipitation totals in some areas of North Dakota have already surpassed yearly averages, but farmers are more concerned about wet weather damaging the condition of the soybean crop than corn and sunflowers. "If it keeps on staying wet or we get a heavy snow where you can`t get into combine the beans it will hurt the beans worse than the corn, the corn is taller. The beans have to be cut lower to the ground," says Hoeft. Some farmers need at least a week of continuous dry weather to get their combines moving again. "Some of the ground is going to have to freeze up solid to drive across it," says Wahler. If fields do dry up and farmers are able to harvest their soybeans, the price they can get for the crop will be worth the wait. "It`s a decent price, nine to ten dollars, if you can`t get them it doesn`t do you any good," Wahler says. Many farmers are hoping that with a little dry weather they will be able to bring in a good soybean, corn and sunflower crop. As of last week, only 17-percent of North Dakota`s soybeans were harvest. Normally by this time of year 68-percent of the crop would be combined. |
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