Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota

The word "variable" continues to be true as we describe crop conditions in northwest part of the corn belt. Areas vary greatly in the amount of crop that got planted, as well as the condition of the crop that is in the ground. The one thing that is consistent across all three states it that we need time for this crop to mature. Realistically, we need to get through the first week of October without a killing frost to get most of the corn crop to black layer, with some fields needing more time than that. Below is information available by state. 

Minnesota – The eastern side was able to get planted at a relatively timely date this spring, and early on things looked good with good emergence and early season plant growth. During the growing season, there has been a big difference in the amount of moisture in this area from north to south. Southeast Minnesota has been seeing moisture throughout the growing season, with areas seeing 10 inches of rain over average. This has led to unevenness in the corn due to saturated soils. This area also saw a significant wind event the 3^rd weekend in July, resulting in Root Lodging and some Greensnap in corn.

In the northeast Minnesota area, widespread rains have been hard to come by after spring turned to summer. In some areas pivots have been running hard trying to keep up, especially during the heat we saw in July, and dryland acres in these areas are showing signs of drought stress. But there are pockets in this area that have received timely rains, and these areas, along with the irrigated acres, look pretty good. Again, variable is the key word.

Southwest Minnesota was the area of the state hardest hit with prevent planting. Although acres are down in this area, the crop that did get planted is looking good all things considered but will need time to mature. This area was also affected by the same storm on the 3^rd weekend of July, resulting in more Greensnap than Root Lodging in this area as the corn was either right before tassel, or had just started to tassel.

North Dakota and Northwest Minnesota – I put these two areas together as they have had similar weather and has been the area that has looked good throughout the growing season. This area was able to get planted timely, has received timely rains, and has been by far and away the most consistent looking area in the region. Corn has looked uniform from emergence to tassel, with little stress as to date. There have been pockets affected by storms that brought some gusty winds, but this was early enough that any fields that did Root Lodge had time to stand back up before tassel. This area should see some nice yields this fall for both corn and soybeans.

South Dakota – This was the area hardest hit by the spring rains in our 3-state area. The amount of Prevent Plant acres in this area is incredible, with the FSA reporting 3.86 million acres enrolled in PP for 2019. The areas that did get planted are looking surprisingly good, but again will need a favorable late summer and fall to reach maturity.

There is potential for some decent yields to be seen this fall considering all that we have gone through this growing season, but the variability from area to area will limit the number of acres with these nice yields. The biggest wild card in all of this will be the weather from now until the first widespread, killing frost. Like I stated at the beginning, we need time for this crop to finish. Unfortunately, even an average frost date in most areas may be too early this year for all the corn planted to reach black layer. But considering where we were at 2 months ago, at the beginning of June, I am amazed at where this crop is at, and the potential come harvest time.