Heavy Rains Delay Harvest for Many Central MN Farmers

FOLEY -- Approximately 3 1/2 inches of rain fell across central Minnesota earlier this week making many farmers restless about getting into their fields to finish the fall harvest.

Dan Martens is an Extension Educator with the U-of-M Extension Office. He says with shorter days and cooler temps, it takes longer for fields to dry out.  While that means farmers may have to wait to get into their fields, Martens says the possibility of those crops developing mold is a larger issue...

I think the mold issue for some crops is a more prevalent issue.  Where you have mold setting into a crop, then that's pretty critical as to what's going to happen in the marketplace because the crop can be rejected.  Otherwise, we certainly hope we're early enough in the season here that if we get a drier weather trend that we have time to get the crop off.

Mold can cause significant losses to a farmer's yield and ultimately impact any chance at making a profit when they bring their commodity to market.

Martens says some farmers may be pressed into entering fields before they're dry. That can lead to problems like getting equipment stuck, lower yields and mud-covered roads near farm fields.