Harvest Flawless for Minn. Farmer

OMAHA (DTN) -- Noah Hultgren said he couldn't have asked for anything better than the perfect growing season he had on his farm at Raymond, Minnesota.

When DTN visited Hultgren's farm back in May, he said he knew he was taking a chance by planting early that month while frost was still a threat. He was banking on the usual June rains. Hultgren and his brother operate a 5,000-acre farm growing edible beans, sugar beets, corn for feed, sweet corn and soybeans.

"This whole calendar year has been ideal weather-wise," Hultgren said. "Perfect moisture in the spring, got the crop in early, got pretty timely rains, no real hot, dry stretches this summer." A nice fall also helped, with the first snow flake holding off until Oct. 28. He wrapped up corn harvest this week and got crops out of the field at least two weeks ahead of normal.

Like the rest of the 2015 season, even his harvest has been flawless, he said.

"I didn't have to fight so much in the fall during harvest," Hultgren said. "It was just a nice fall. We didn't have to over-staff pulling trucks around or anything like that." The ideal weather came at a time when prices are low and inputs high, so a bump in yield this year is timely.

"We've had corn north of 200-bushel (per acre) on our better ground," Hultgren said. "Overall, it is about an average of 200 bushels an acre. That's probably about 15 bushels or more above average. Soybean yields have been above average too. Price-wise, soybeans are probably a little lower than a year ago. We tried to forward a percentage of our corn. Some of the stuff isn't priced. We'll probably see $3 to $3.25 cash corn."

Despite perfect weather and higher yields, overall grain prices and input costs have led to a balance sheet still in the red.

Hultgren, elected the new president of the Minnesota Corn Growers Association this summer, said despite low prices and high input costs his farm will look at making some equipment upgrades.

"We haven't seen a big drop in inputs yet," he said. "A couple of guys were selling me seed and said there's not much price difference yet. Fertilizer has not changed much yet either. Yields might make up for some of it."

As it stands, Hultgren said he doesn't foresee changes in his rotation heading into 2016. "If we're able to add acres (to the farm) this winter, we may have to add a few acres of corn," he said. "Winter will dictate. If we have a late spring, we may have to adjust at that point."

Hultgren is a member of a sugar beet cooperative and also grows edible beans. He expects an above-average crop for both to turn a profit.

CROP PROGRESS

The Hultgren crop success story this season is common among Minnesota farmers, according to the latest crop progress report for the state from USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

For the week ending Oct. 25, Minnesota farmers had harvested almost 25% of their corn acreage during 5.3 suitable fieldwork days.

"Although this was the fewest days suitable for fieldwork in four weeks, harvest continued to advance rapidly," the report said. The corn harvest for grain was 81% complete, 12 days ahead of the previous year and almost one week ahead of the five-year average. Average moisture content of corn grain at harvest was 16%. Soybean harvest was nearly complete, more than one week ahead of average.

Rain during the week helped to replenish topsoil moisture levels.

Topsoil moisture supplies were rated 3% very short, 22% short, 73% adequate and 2% surplus, according to USDA. Subsoil moisture supplies rated 4% very short, 19% short, 76% adequate and 1% surplus.

When Hultgren planted back in May, his region of the state remained in persistent drought, graded as moderate by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Southern Minnesota farmers usually are waiting for warmer conditions and wet fields to dry in April and May.

As of May 10, 2015, however, Minnesota led the nation with 95% of corn acres already planted -- far ahead of planting one year prior with just 31% of corn acres.

Since then, timely rain in the region throughout the growing season has erased drought conditions in Hultgren's region. The latest drought monitor shows drought only in western and southeastern Minnesota.

---

Editor's note: DTN visited Hultgren's farm back in May to get a look at his planting strategy. In this story, DTN Staff Reporter Todd Neeley checked back with him this fall to see how the growing season went.

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow him on Twitter @ToddNeeleyDTN

(SK)

Copyright 2015 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.