The days are getting shorter, the nights a bit cooler as every day passes here in Minnesota. When the days get shorter, the beans start to turn and we know harvest will be here before we know it.
We’ve been busy on the farm the past month doing cover crop application. All the cover crops have been applied and now we turn our attention to harvest. Some equipment has sat in the shed since harvest was completed last fall, so there are lots of preparation to be done for the grain carts, tractors and combine. We try to be as ready as possible so once harvest starts we don’t need to stop for anything but weather delays, a little sleep and necessary repairs.
We had such a challenging spring, with later planting dates than normal, so it makes sense we will have a harvest that is later than normal too. Despite some slight planting delays and extreme weather during the summer, we have high hopes of a good bean crop this year. Soybeans are a difficult crop to judge or estimate yield on until they are in the bin, so we will have to wait a little while longer to see how the year actually ends up.
Fall is one of our favorite times on the farm. We could say we’ve been working all summer keeping our crop healthy and praying for the weather to cooperate. However, the fact is we started planning and working toward a healthy soybeans crop last fall when we harvested the corn off these fields. Last fall, we seeded our cover crops that we planted our soybeans into, so the commitment to a high quality soybean crop is more than one growing season. We are dedicated to bringing soybeans that are sustainability produced to the market every single year that provide value to our farm and value to our end users. Sustainability is a never ending commitment to our farm, our land, our environment and our customers.
