Harvest is underway in Douglas County. During my survey Tuesday (9/15) morning, I saw both corn and soybean fields being harvested as well as a handful of others that had recently been harvested, or at least “opened up”. Most corn fields visited are at black layer (R6) or close to it, with the exception of a couple fields that were presumably planted late due to early season wet conditions. Soybean growth stage across the county showed a bit more of a range, with the majority of fields at beginning maturity (R7) or beyond, but a fair number still mostly green across the canopy. Those soybeans that are still holding on to some green leaves are turning quickly as soil moisture continues to decrease in the area with warm temps and minimal rainfall. As I write this on Wednesday (9/16), we did catch some rain in the area from the south edge of a storm system that moved through this morning. Available reports from Douglas County show a range of ~0.1-0.8″ in accumulation from that storm, so probably not enough to keep people out of the fields too long, depending on how the scattered storms in the forecast for the rest of the week play out.


and then