Despite the rain over the weekend, corn harvest began in North Dakota last week with 1 percent combined, and it progressed a little more in Minnesota with 5 percent threshed to grain by Sunday, said the U.S. Department of Agriculture in its weekly survey released Tuesday.
North Dakota's potato crop was 92 percent dug by Sunday, flaxseed harvest was virtually complete, sunflowers were 4 percent combined, soybeans were 60 percent harvested and dry edible beans 76 percent harvested. Except for potatoes, all the crops remain behind normal harvest schedules, and the big rains at the end of the week will keep harvesters still until the end of this week for the most part in eastern North Dakota.
American Crystal Sugar said Monday that by Friday 68 percent of its sugar beets were dug, but none since then. The full beet harvest began Oct. 1 and typically is completed before Oct. 21. Muddy fields will no doubt slow the digging once it gets going again, so the harvest likely will continue into the middle to end of next week.
The entire Red River Valley in North Dakota and the Devils Lake basin has surplus topsoil moisture, while only a small area east and west of Dickinson, N.D., has very short topsoil moisture, USDA said.
In Minnesota, after a fifth of the crop was combined last week despite the rains, 67 percent of the soybean crop was in the bin by Sunday, compared with 74 percent by the same date in the five-year average.
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Potatoes were 93 percent harvested, ahead of normal; dry beans were 93 percent combined, about normal. Sunflowers were 16 percent harvested, slightly behind average, in Minnesota.
Reach Lee at (701) 780-1237; (800) 477-6572, ext. 237; or send e-mail to slee@gfherald.com
