Harvest update: It's been a great year
By ROWENA PLETT
Staff writer
The wet weather has brought combining operations to a halt, but about 80 percent of the local fall harvest is complete, according to Mike Thomas, manager of Cooperative Grain and Supply in Marion.
Late-planted milo, double crop milo and soybeans, and a few corn fields still need to be cut.
Even with the harvest not yet completed, the elevator has taken in many more bushels of milo, soybeans, and corn than the previous year.
A good growing season produced grain with high weights per bushel and higher than average yields.
Thomas said many bean fields yielded around 55 bushels per acre. Most milo fields yielded at least 110 bushels per acre, and 140-165 bushel corn was common.
The abundant harvest has led to lower market prices. These change daily or even hourly, in some instances. Monday noon, corn was bringing $1.86 per bushel, milo $1.54, and beans, $4.78.
Producers enrolled in the farm program receive price protection. When the price falls below a set level, farmers can claim deficiency payments (LDPs) to make up the difference. On Monday, the LDP on corn was 34 cents per bushel, milo 61 cents, and beans 16 cents. These figures change as the market price changes.
The following figures show the dramatic difference in bushels received at Marion this fall as compared to the previous year.
2003 2004
(total) (October 11)
Corn 126,875 329,000
Milo 190,825 254,730
Beans 96,065 232,170
All branches of Cooperative Grain and Supply, which has headquarters at Hillsboro, have taken in more than two million bushels of grain so far compared to a total of 1,294,000 a year ago.
Stan Utting, manager of Agri Producers, Inc., with headquarters at Tampa, reported harvest in the northern part of the county more than half complete. Most beans and corn have been cut but many milo fields remain standing.
Some milo is piled on the ground at Lincolnville, Tampa, and Herington.
Utting said the co-op already has taken in more grain than a year ago, in which the area saw "the worst harvest in 20 years." He said milo has been yielding 100 bushels per acre or better.
