Wisconsin's autumn grain harvest could soon become a winter harvest, or worse, as farmers struggle with snow and mud that have made it impossible to get crops out of the field, the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reports.
Some corn and soybeans could be left unharvested until spring, reducing that corn's value and making the soybeans practically worthless if they've been buried under snow all winter.
Statewide, about 22 percent of the corn is still in the field, according to a crop report issued Monday by the US Department of Agriculture. In some counties, it's much worse where mud and snow have made it difficult to run the harvest equipment.
Ross Bishop, a beef cattle farmer in Washington County, said he still has 35 acres of corn in the field. On Sunday one of his grain trucks almost became stuck in the mud after the snow melted and the ground turned to mush.
"I barely got the truck out when I went in for a load of corn. You need to be using your head, otherwise you will get stuck," Bishop said.
Farmers often leave corn in the field as long as possible so it dries naturally. The higher the moisture content the less they are paid for their grain. But this year the weather has complicated things.
"All the snow we received last week stuck to everything. Combines sat in the shed all week as the temperatures were too warm and the snow would plug them up," a Portage County crops observer noted in the USDA report.
"There's still lots of corn to harvest, and some of it is starting to fall down," a Buffalo County crops observer said in the report.
Read more HERE.
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