Harvest progress in Michigan, much like the entire U.S., made great strides in the last week. Corn harvest is now at 7% and soybeans at 14% complete. There were some rains in the state last week but Bart Marshall, Field Sales Rep for Channel Seed, says farmers quickly got back in fields and have been hitting it hard since.
“I think by the end of this week, it’s a guess, but I’m thinking we’re going to be pushing 40%, somewhere in that range just because everybody’s just completely hammered down on beans,” he explained. “The only thing waiting or stalling us is there are some beans that are still out there that are still green, and so anything that’s dry we know we got to get them at 12 to 13% so we don’t get into a lot of shatter. Guys are not waiting, they’re running after them and getting them out of the fields as fast as they can, so a lot of progress on soybeans.”
There are some very dry areas of Michigan, but if soils are good those fields are showing some positive harvest results.
“Looking across it on an average, those guys with good dirt are above average on yields. They’re happy with that. They’re not getting rich of course but they are happy with where they’re at on yields. Quality wise, we’ve seen lots of good quality. It seems to be better fill, we don’t have a lot of bb’s in most areas, you know they filled out all the way to the top of the plant. Pods are full. They’re not giant, but they’re significant enough of a bean that it’s going to matter, it’s going to help pay off a lot of bills here come this fall.”
And those dry fields? They have been very challenging.
“Probably dust is the biggest thing,” he explained. “There’s some lodging where beans have gone down especially on fertile ground, but there’s just hundreds of videos of guys sitting there in combine cabs and looking out the window at nothing. Thank goodness for auto steer because if it wasn’t for that we’d be driving around in circles and hitting fence rows. So it’s a dirty crop, but it’s yielding above average overall.”
Asked if he can say the same about corn, Marshall said “I really can’t, and that’s just because I have so few people that have really gotten into corn.”
Hear all of Marshall’s observations in the full MAT and Channel Seed harvest update:
