Harvest 2021 in ‘Early Full Swing’
If you look at the past 2-3 years our farmer friends have had just about everything thrown at them they could imagine. A couple of years ago, we were dealing with some of the wettest conditions anyone could fathom. There were thousands of acres left unplanted. 2021 the most heard word out of a weather persons mouth has probably been the word drought.
It's been dry in 2021 for sure. But not 2012 dry. 2012 had people wondering if it was ever going to rain again. 2021 has been strange. It's been dry, but in places the rains came later than expected and the month of June was flat out HOT.
If you drive up and down any gravel road in southeast South Dakota today chances are you'll see a combine out in the field and a cloud of dust. It doesn't matter if it's corn or beans, the crops are coming out of the fields in many areas.
I was texting back and forth with my farmer friend Dan from the Wagner area. He was out planting winter wheat and the rest of the crew was already 'deep' into the soybean and corn harvest. Many times they are just finishing up with soybean harvest at the start of pheasant season. This year, it looks like they'll be way ahead of schedule.
September 27,2021. If you drive around, you see a lot of bean fields already picked clean. I've seen more corn being harvested in September than in quite a few years as well.
I wouldn't go so far as to say it will go down as the earliest harvest on record, but if dry conditions hold, there will be a lot of producers done by the start of pheasant season. With everything. That doesn't happen often.
The experts are saying drier and warmer for October. What's started out as an early harvest for South Dakota, may go down as one of the earlier finishes for many on record.
By the way, be mindful of speed limits and watch out for our farmer friends as they head from field to field. And here's to a safe harvest for all!
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