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AdvertisementCounting the chickensThere's an entire litany of old sayings that could pertain to this year's fall harvest. "Don't count your chickens before they are hatched." "Never sell a crop before it's in the bin." Now, we all know these are antiquated sayings that we used to hear from our grandmothers. But this year, they've come to mind as the late harvest has descended upon farmers across the Plains and Midwest. What makes the waiting even harder is the predictions that this year's crops were to be near record-breaking. In fact, the October U.S. Department of Agriculture crop production report showed a record projected corn yield of 164.2 bushels per acre, which would result in the second-largest corn crop at 13.018 billion bushels and the projected average soybean yield was 42.4 bushels per acre, which would set a record soybean production of 3.250 billion bushels. In this week's Page 1-B article, editors Jennifer Bremer and Doug Rich examine the effect of the late harvest for producers. As of the latest crop reports, 18 percent of Iowa corn had been harvested, running well behind the 67 percent average. High moisture and mold are concerning producers. To complicate matters, some wheat producers do not have their crop planted, due to moisture and harvest. Last week, I drove through a small Kansas town at 10 p.m. There were trucks lined up at the local elevator and the crew was working hard to get the crop in at that late hour. I had not seen a weather forecast, but I told my son, "I bet it is supposed to rain." Not 10 miles down the road, large raindrops splashed on my windshield. It rained all night and for the next two days. Farmers got back into the field, around my home, only a few days ago. Since then, the weather has been beautiful and farmers are scrambling to get the crops harvested before the weather turns again. I'll be crossing my fingers for them--another old tradition that probably doesn't work, but it can't hurt. Holly Martin can be reached by phone at 620-227-1806, or by e-mail at hmartin@hpj.com. Advertisement
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