MONROE — As of Oct. 8, 2023, the corn harvest in Wisconsin was 23% complete and the harvest has continued gathering steam in the weeks since.
That’s slightly ahead of the 5-year average pace, according to agriculture officials. What’s more, the corn for silage harvest was 18% complete and expanding, which was about 6 days ahead of last year.
Indeed, in Green County, more than a quarter of the crop has been harvested thus far, said Josh Schenk, president of the Green County Farm Bureau. Typically, Green County is a little ahead of the state average when it comes to harvest times, he added.
The USDA forecast Wisconsin corn production is at 515 million bushels, down 6%. The USDA also revised the corn yield estimate for the 2023-24 marketing year to 175.1 bushels/acre from 177.5.
In Green County, Schenk said he expects yield totals to be about average, which is keeping with the trend in recent years.
Riley Ostby, grain merchandiser for Pleasant Grain, LLC a Monroe elevator, said some farmers are doing better than others.
“A lot of the guys’ yield was surprisingly better than they thought it would be and, in some cases, better than last year,” said Ostby.
Experts say corn made a significant turnaround from the early summer drought conditions to catch up to normal or close to normal yield estimates in early to late fall. The percentage of Wisconsin experiencing extreme drought — the second-worst category — fell from 22% in early September to just 6.8% in early October according to the National Integrated Drought Information System.
“We’re back to more normal precipitation and weather patterns,” he said. “That is good news.”
The harvest time can vary across different parts of the state and even from county to county. It depends on factors such as corn type, planting date, climate, and corn maturity. Farmers monitor corn maturity by observing kernel moisture, color, and texture. In our area, the northern part of the region was slightly drier than the southern areas.
“Most corn and soybeans are ready to harvest from a moisture standpoint,” Schenk said. “Now it is just a matter of the weather and when they can all get out into the fields without doing any significant damage.”
Ostby said most producers are coming in with about 200 bushels per acre as a rule — some more and some less. But he agreed that some of the gloom-and-doom predictions earlier in the growing season about the impact of drought-like conditions were largely avoided at harvest time.
And Ostby also said stretches of good weather helped producers get their crops in at ideal times without having to lose money on excessive drying.
The total for all types of corn planted in 2023 by Wisconsin producers is estimated at 4 million acres according to the USDA, an increase of about 50,000 acres over 2022 numbers.
As for soybeans, Ostby said he estimates that as much as 75-80% of the crop is in, with average to good yields at harvest.
Meanwhile, in other harvest news, total dry hay expected to be harvested for 2023 is estimated at 1.23 million acres, up 130,000 acres from last year, according to USDA estimates.