Farmers looking for good drying weather to finish harvest

Berne Tri-Weekly News:

While soaking rains the last week couldn't have come in any nicer fashion, farmers need another good drying spell in order for corn to dry down for the impending harvest says Jeff Lehman of Lehman Feed Mill.

"The bean harvest is about 75 percent done now," said Lehman. "Beans have been pretty good in the Berne area. We are very blessed, with a lot of yields in the 50's. Some areas away from here where they didn't get as much rain have only been getting in the 40's. We were so blessed by the rains we had earlier, right when the beans needed it. I believe that the corn benefited some from those rains, too."

Lehman said that a lot of beans have been coming in at 11-13 percent moisture, what he considers to be a normal moisture level for beans. However, he suspects that there might have been some soil compaction with some of the cutting earlier this week.