Wet Summer Raises Questions About Upcoming Harvest Season [AUDIO]
ST. CLOUD -- Farmers around Central Minnesota will soon be in the fields for the harvest season.
But the heavy rains throughout the summer and recent weeks have local farmers hoping for the best.
University of Minnesota Extension educator Dan Martens says the heavy summer rain has killed of some of the crops planted late in the season.
A report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture says farmers should have a record harvest this fall, but may not profit.
Last week farmers were surprised by a frost which some fields suffered varying degrees of damage.
Martens says due to the untimely weather there is a variation of crop conditions in the fields.
Livestock may also suffer from the lack of quality corn.
Both dairy and beef cattle use corn silage as a source of energy and with lack of quality corn farmers may need to buy corn or other feed to meet the needs.
Martens says farmers are hoping for a dry fall so they can get in the fields in a timely manner for harvest and allow for late planted crops to mature.
Martens says there will be some farms with good yields this fall, but many farms will not.