South Dakota Harvest Nearing Half Way Point

With the big delay due to long periods of rain in late September, the South Dakota harvest got off to a very late start. And just because the sun came out going into October, it didn't mean things went into full swing. It was so wet out in the fields, many areas needed excessive drying time.

We were getting reports yet on Wednesday of this week (10/24) of stuck combines. Let me tell you, that is not a fun situation!

However, there has been progress made over the course of a week. One fourth of the corn crop in South Dakota and about half of the soybeans have been harvested.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its weekly crop report says both crops remain well behind the average pace, despite a week of good harvest weather.

Harvest progress for other crops is 8 percent for sunflowers and 25 percent for sorghum. They also are well behind average.

Winter wheat seeding in the state is 87 percent complete.

Subsoil moisture is rated 67 percent adequate to surplus, and topsoil moisture is 87 percent in those categories, down slightly over the week.