Harvest season continues in the Land of Oceana. It represents the culmination of a year’s worth of time, inputs and labor. Some harvests are mostly complete, with others continuing or starting.
Corn silage chopping is wrapping up; the apple harvest for many will end in a week or two. Combines have been running soybeans with low moisture readings and corn grain numbers are below 20 percent. Corn is considered dry at 15.5 percent moisture. Squash continues to arrive at processing plants as well. We have been blessed with overall favorable harvest weather, although several very warm weeks tested harvest crews’ tolerance for heat.
All is not well in the southeastern U.S. The news media has covered the human suffering of Hurricane Helene while neglecting the agricultural aspects. Cotton bolls are opening in Georgia, absorbing moisture, making harvest very difficult. Several large broiler chicken facilities have been destroyed or heavily damaged. Flood conditions have shut down the processing facilities for these birds. Flood waters have made grain harvest impossible in many areas. Let’s not forget damaged and destroyed roads and bridges, making moving commodities from the field impossible.
If this sounds bad, consider the apple growers in the Asheville, N.C. region which has been devastated by floods. Reports indicate many orchards are impossible to get to, and water depths as high as 13 feet are hard to picture. Those plantings will not survive these conditions. Complicating this is that flood insurance doesn’t cover such loss. There may be some USDA programs to help, but the loss will take years to recover from.
Remember to share the road with farm machinery this harvest season. We all want to return home safely every evening.
