Some Missouri farmers say the heat has taken a toll on the crops that are being harvested.
In northeast Missouri, Drew Lock says it was dry at pod fill for the soybeans, but yields are better than expected.
“The seed size is very small. Moisture is, I’ve already seen soybeans at sub-11 percent, down into the 10 percent range,” he says. “It’s going to drop like a rock. The weather forecast looks like it’s going to be dry awhile. There’s still quite a few green stems and pods. Beans are cutting a little hard, but obviously, the moisture is fine.”
In southeast Missouri, Will Hunter says the rice has an average yield, likely due to the hot conditions at pollination.
“We’ve gotten into some good rice and we’ve had disappointing yields. I haven’t been overly impressed with anything we’ve harvested.”
Other farmers, like Ryan Richardson in northwest Missouri, says the heat has been a blessing for the corn.
“We’re battling a little moisture. Disease set in really late. Even if you sprayed fungicides on the corn, we still had disease pressure. I think it was past the point of hurting yield, but it’s made the plant die instead of mature,” he says. “I think we’re drying very slowly.”
USDA says there’s been decent harvest progress made in the last week across the state, with corn harvest now 40 percent complete, soybean harvest 11 percent complete and rice harvest at 75 percent complete.
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