Harvest continues to move at a slow pace across Michigan. In last week’s USDA progress report, they say 17% of the state’s corn for grain has been harvested and 32% of soybeans are out. Both corn and soybeans are behind their respective 5-year average pace.
Pioneer agronomist Josh Whelan covers most of the northern part of Lower Michigan, and he believes those numbers might still be too high. Rainfall has kept farmers out of the fields and is requiring them to adapt on the fly.
“I think a lot of guys want to take their soybeans off before their corn just because they’re worried about the snow, and my suggestion is if you’ve got nothing to do and you think you can run some corn, take the time and switch over. I know it sucks, but it might be the way to go for a little bit just so you can keep harvesting.”
Many farmers were anticipating below average corn yields this year, but Whelan says they’ve been pleasantly surprised.
“You know, I’m hearing numbers in the high two hundreds, mid to high two hundreds, pretty often for corn. The silage yields this year were just amazing. There’s a lot of guys that are going to have a lot of extra feed this year and that’s a good thing.”
Whelan encourages you to prioritize fields where disease might be weakening stalks. He’s been finding a lot of Gibberella ear rot in fields.
If you encounter Gib in your field, Whelan recommends “Turn your fans up on your combine as high as you can, blow as many of those bees wings out the back, and try to send out whole cobs because a lot of that mold, the vomitoxin and mycotoxins, there are some on the kernels but a lot of it’s in the ear or in the cob itself.”
Hear more from Pioneer agronomist Josh Whelan in the full MAT interview below.
