Farmers have been taking advantage of dry weather during the past week to shift their combines, beet lifters and grain trucks into high gear.
Nearly 40 percent of Minnesota's soybean acres were harvested last week, bringing the total to 62 percent, according to the latest USDA weekly report on crop progress and condition. And 97 percent of the sugar beet crop has been harvested, which the report called "the most during an October week in over a decade."
On the other hand, farmers are delaying corn harvest because of high moisture content. Only 7 percent of the corn crop has been harvested, and progress is about two and a half weeks behind average, the report said, the slowest since 2009.
A cold, rainy spring forced many Minnesota farmers to plant corn later than usual, and weeks of dry weather in several areas slowed plant growth in mid-summer. However, USDA crop projections released last week estimated that Minnesota will produce 1.33 billion bushels of corn in 2014 – not a record crop, but 2 percent more than in 2013.
