Jamie Koerner

    Farmers are experiencing yields higher than expected and increased bushel prices for beans and corn this harvest.
     Beans are producing 60 to 70 bushels (bu) per acre and corn is harvesting approximately 160 or more bu per acre, Bern Kozisek, region manager for the United Farmers Coop (UFC) in Tamora, said.
     Corn planting is up 15 percent from last year in the state of Nebraska, Kelly Brunkhorst, agriculture promotion coordinator for the Nebraska Corn Board, said.
     Nationally, corn production is up 19 percent this year with a total of 92.9 million acres of corn planted.
     Planted corn this year totals 2.4 million acres more than the projected estimate in March, according to the June 29 US Department of Agriculture acreage report.
     This year's national corn production is the largest since 1944, when 95.5 million acres were planted, the report said.
     The reason for the increase is in part because of the high demand and increased prices per bushel, Brunkhorst said.
     "With the prices the way they are, there is a lot of optimism and the attitude is very good in the country sides," Brunkhorst said.
     Prices this year for corn have varied, but Sept. 28 fell 14 cents from the day before resting at $3.32 per bu. Bean prices rested at $8.71 per bu, after falling 18 cents from the day before, Kozisek said.
     National corn prices are forecasted to increase from an average of $3.10 per bu last year to $3.70 per bu this year, up 10 to 50 cents per bu from 2006, the USDA acreage report said.
     Kozisek said overall moisture content has been at acceptable levels at the coop, but the beans and corn are drier than he expected.
     "I can't believe corn is as dry as it is this early in harvest," Kozisek said Sept. 28. "Crops got put in at the right time."
     At the UFC in Tamora, the price paid for a bu of harvested crop is reduced if the harvested corn has too high a moisture content, damaged product, broken kernels, foreign material or a sour smell.
     This year's crop hasn't resulted in many deductions for farmers, Kozisek said.
     Cary Skibinski, agronomist for the UFC in Tamora, said the main concern right now in the corn crop is stalk rot.
     Skibinski said if a corn plant has stalk rot, it weakens the plant and could be blown down or snapped at the stalk as a result of high winds, making harvest difficult.
     "So far everything seems to be standing OK at this point," Skibinski said. "But we are a windstorm away of having quite a bit of corn down."
     He said farmers are also seeing gray leaf spot, a disease producing gray lesions on mature corn leaves caused by hot, humid weather that can cause bushel loss from five to 40 per acre.
     He said overall the bean harvest has been healthy.
     Penny Watson, manager at the UFC in Tamora, who was busy operating the scale Sept. 28 at the coop, said that she has seen a lot of beans so far this harvest and corn will start to come in more in the next week when the moisture content is optimum.
     "Grain prices are up, yields are up and everyone's happy," Watson said.
     Kozisek said harvest should be complete by approximately mid-October.