Late harvest, early winter storms leave crops stranded

(Sentinel photo by Amy Erickson) Corn still stands in fields throughout Plymouth County, Iowa and neighboring states after a cooler than average growing season, a wet October and early snow storms impeded farmers' harvest. [Click to enlarge]

Corn still stands in fields in northwest Iowa and nearby states -- and without a winter thaw it will likely remain there until spring.

"Right now there's not much you can do. You can't physically get in the field," said Joel DeJong, crops field specialist with Plymouth County Iowa State University Extension.

Some farmers attempted to combine corn at the end of December, but ended up getting more snow than useful product because the moisture content made the crop too wet, DeJong said.

"Right now we're in a holding pattern for most cases," he said. "The biggest hope we can get is one of those winter time melts to shrink the down a lot of the snow and get the snow off the ears."

After that, it would need to freeze so farmers could physically return to the fields and finish combining before too much melting occurs and the ground becomes muddy, DeJong said.

"I think that's kind of the thought and the ideal hope at this stage of the game," he said.

That's what Akron farmer Brad Harvey is hoping for -- he still has about 250 out of 1,500 acres of corn standing in his fields.

"We were just out there today. The end rows of corn are 7 or 8 feet deep (in snow)," Harvey said Wednesday. "I think we are just going to have to wait for early spring to get out there (to harvest) before we start planting again."

A cool growing season and a soggy October left Harvey in a bind when it came to harvesting his 1,500 acres of beans and then getting to the 1,500 acres of corn.

"We tried to do two months in one and that didn't work very well," Harvey said. "It would be all right if you didn't have the snow come in December."

In his 23 years of farming, Harvey said he's never seen a harvest like this one.

"We might have a January thaw and be able to get in there," he said. "You never know what is going to happen."

Even with the 250 acres in the field, Harvey's only expecting a 15 to 20 percent loss on the end rows where the snow is taller than the corn stalks.

In the middle of the field the snow is only about 2 feet high, which is well below the ears of corn on the stalks so that part of the crop should be fine until harvest, Harvey said.

"As long as the wind doesn't snap it off or something, it's standing good out in the middle," he said.

But it could still be a problem if Harvey and other farmers have to wait until spring to harvest their corn, DeJong said.

"With as much water as we've got in the soil and as much water as we've got sitting here above the ground in snow, it could take awhile to dry out before you actually get it harvested," DeJong said.

If that happens, it could mean a delay in getting next year's crop in the ground which would put farmers behind for a second season, DeJong said.

The good news at least in northwest Iowa is that just 2 percent of farmers have corn remaining in the fields, according to a weekly Iowa Crop Report form the National Agricultural Statistic Service.

DeJong believes that number to be even lower.

"I'm thinking it's probably closer to 1 percent," he said. "There's some neighborhoods where there's more, but there's some neighborhoods where you can't find any either."

Statewide 3 percent of Iowa farmers still have corn in the field, according to the report, DeJong said.

In 2008, there were 1.9 million acres of corn harvested in northwest Iowa district's 12 counties, which includes Plymouth, DeJong said.

He thinks 2009's final harvest number will be similar, which based on the 2 percent, means farmers have only about 38,000 acres remaining in their fields.

"The majority of the acres did get harvested by the time we did get that really heavy snow so that's a good thing," DeJong said.

The corn left in the fields is also at risk of ears falling from stalks which makes it unable to be harvested, stalks falling down after the snow that is holding them up melts, and the possibility of mold developing, DeJong said.

His advice for farmers with crops still in the field:

"You can't alter the weather so you have to live with it for what it is, but be prepared to take advantage of opportunities that may arise," DeJong said. "That's all we can do."