Harvest
2010
by Brek Burgweger
We just finished harvesting corn and it was a another
very good crop. The corn matured nicely through the spring and summer.
There was quite a bit of heat and dryness in mid-June
that probably took the top end off of the corn crop. When we're harvesting
wheat in June seems to be the hottest time of the year in eastern
North Carolina.
Around the time we're harvesting wheat, the corn
is pollinating and that's not a time where you want hot, dry weather.
Unfortunately, we received it but it didn't hurt the corn crop
too much. Overall, eastern North Carolina has been dry and hot all
year.
Our 111 and
112 day corn varieties were our best. We plant a lot of 118 and
119 corn but those weren't as oood as the earlier varieties. The
good thing about all this hot and dry weather was that the moisture
of the corn crop was really dry. We harvested a lot of 18 - 19% corn.
Usually we're harvesting corn in the mid to upper 20%'s. The low
moisture saved on drying costs this year.
Our soybean crop looks good too. We've had to spray twice for corn
earworm and armyworm which is very unusual. Spraying the soybeans
once for worms and bugs is the norm. Again, the hot and dry weather
seems to be the reason why we've had to spray. Recently, I've read
a lot of online publications and heard marketing experts who seem
to stress that soybeans don't like hot and humid weather. I'd have
to disagree with them at least in our part of the country. We've
had really good yields the last few years when the weather's been
hot, dry and humid. Maybe it's just our area but the beans seem to
do really well in that environment.
With the commodity markets going
higher and higher over the last few months, 2011 looks to be another
good year if we can keep costs down and grow good crops. Time will
tell!!
