News

Weather lengthens South Dakota harvest season

South Dakota’s corn harvest is 82 percent complete. It’s behind normal because of weather.

Northeast South Dakota farmer John Horter is happy with yields but describes the harvest season as tough.

“We’ve had a lot of rain, and I guess in our area we’ve had a lot of snow, and it’s really delayed harvest,” Horter told Brownfield Ag News Monday. “We actually just finished a couple days ago; it’s just been a challenging fall with all of the weather conditions and the delays.”

Horter says corn in that part of the state yielded 200 bushels to the acre while soybeans were in the mid to upper 40s. The extended harvest season resulted in cold weather work.

“We were combining corn in the teens, so it’s tough on equipment and it’s tough on the guys too to get their crop out,” said Horter.

Horter is president of the South Dakota Soybean Association.

AUDIO: John Horter (2 min. MP3)