It's been a long, strange harvest season this year. I saw this article by Gretchen Schlosser in the local West Central Tribune today talking about progress in the corn harvest, as well as other crops like soybeans and sugar beets:

Farmers take in 25 percent of corn in a week

By Gretchen Schlosser on Nov 4, 2013 at 11:28pm

 

Minnesota’s farmers harvested 25 percent of the corn crop last week, pushing the total percentage of the crop harvested to 73 percent.

 

According to the weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture crop/weather report, there were five days suitable for fieldwork last week, which pushed the corn harvest ahead of the 72 percent five-year average.
The soybean harvest also pushed beyond the five-year average, with 96 percent of the soybeans harvested as of Sunday, compared to a 92 percent average. Five percent of the soybeans were harvested during the week.

Ninety nine percent of the sugar beets had been lifted, four points better than the five-year average of 95 percent. Fifteen percent of the crop was lifted during the week.

Nationally, the USDA reports that 73 percent of the corn crop has been taken in by farmers in the 18 states that produce the vast majority of the crop. Similarly, 86 percent of the soybean crop has been harvested in the 18 states producing most of that crop. The five-year averages are 81 percent for corn and 85 percent for soybeans.

Farmers in the four states that produce most of the nation’s sugar beets, North Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho and Michigan, had taken in 93 percent of the crop, compared with a 90 percent five-year average.

The report also notes that the corn crop is drying a bit, with the percentage of moisture at 19 percent in the corn, compared to 21 percent last week. Soybeans remained steady at 13 percent moisture.

Farm Incomes Up

According to analysis from the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system and the University of Minnesota, 2010 was a better year for farming than 2009. Much of the gain was due to increased profits in hog farming, but crop farmers also had a profitable year in 2010.

The positive news was based on the responses of about 2,450 farmers in the state, who report in to the "FINBIN - Farm Financial Database." The FINBIN website is located here:

http://www.finbin.umn.edu/

And is definitely worth exploring. Out of curiousity, I checked on land rent rates for corn farmers in Minnesota. In 2010, the average land rent cost was $143.62, which was about right (maybe even a little low) for our area. I looked at sugar beets, and the land rent average was $104.07 in the state - but that is obviously low for our area. Instead, I looked just at Kandiyohi County and the surroundiung counties, and the average land rent was $166.10 in 2010 - which sounds a lot more realistic for this region.

In addition to land rent costs for specific crops, the FINBIN database also includes information on other expenses ranging from seed and fertilizer to custom farming and hired labor to machinery leases and repair expenses. It's a great set of data for benchmarking your operation.

If you want help with farm management or appraising your agricultural land in the face of rising land rent prices and increasing farm profits, please give me a call at 320-894-7528. Weather permitting, I'll be in the fields for planting soon, but I am still available to help you with all of your real estate needs.

Warmest,

Noah Hultgren
The FarmlandMan
www.farmlandman.com

p.s. Congratulations again to the MACCRAY Boys Basketball team on finishing 3rd in State! As a former Wolverine basketball player on the last team that went to state (in 1996), I was proud to watch all of the games and excited to see us so well-represented!

Spring Planting Progress

This spring has gone remarkably well for platning. I saw a communication from the beet plant the other day saying that 2010 planting is complete, which is much better than last year at this time.

I checked the USDA Agricultural Statistics Service data, and it appears that most crops are ahead of schedule as compared to last year. As of May 3, it said that 97 percent of Minnesota's sugar beet acres were planted; while just 19 percent were planted last year at this time. The five year average for sugar beets is about 44 percent through April.

Likewise, about 87 percent of corn acres were planted; as compared to only 56 percent last year and 41 percent for the five year average. Nine percent of corn is already emerged, compared to 1 percent each of the last five years.

Only about 19 percent of soybeans are planted, but that is also way ahead of schedule in comparison to the last five years. In contrast, nearly 100 percent of oats, barley, and spring wheat are already planted.

If the weather continues to cooperate, this should be a good crop year.