Row crops in Pierce County are looking excellent as harvest winds down. Farmers in the area took that window of opportunity in October when the weather was warm, dry and windy to bring those crops in.

Corn is yielding approximately 100-125 bushels per acre, according to Gary Kraft, director, Farm Service Agency, Rugby.

“Soybeans are excellent, too, with yields as high as 50 bushels, ” said Kraft.

Karlyle Erickson, Pierce County agent, was upbeat about this year’s crop, as well.

“Pierce County has good quality crops,” said Erickson. “It’s been a real good year.”

What is a little unusual is that the prices are really good right now, according to Kraft.

“Typically this time of year, the prices are on their lows, not highs,” he said.

Since grain storage can be a problem, being able to sell in the fall is a positive.

“Storage is tight,” said Tim McKay, manager, Rugby Farmers Elevator. “We’ve been buying corn and sunflowers.”

The only row crop in the area that suffered from disease problems was sunflowers.

“This caused a drop in yields for the diseased plants, while sunflower plants with no disease had good yields,” said Kraft.

Parts of the county in the extreme south and the whole northern edge had moisture issues, more so than the rest of the county. However, overall it was a good harvest.

Kraft attributes the good crop and harvest conditions to a very late first frost.”October weather was great for harvesting,” he added.

The crops were reaped just in time, as snow and windy conditions arrived on Tuesday, October 26, and shut down operations for a couple days last week. The few farmers in the county who still had crop to bring in were delayed. Warmer temperatures were predicted for the weekend.