Eye on Ag - Sunflower Harvest

The stalement between farmers and mother natures has finally ended and sunflower fields are final...  More »

The stalement between farmers and mother natures has finally ended and sunflower fields are finally falling across the region. (Darrel Peterson, Carpio Farmer) "I just started now but it's been a month since we've done anything out here. It's just been wet all the time" With roughly 30 years of tenure on the farm Darrel Peterson says he can't remember a harvest that has drug out this long. With 250 acres of flowers to cut, and work window is getting smaller every day Darrell says and just getting the crop dry enough to cut has been the biggest challenge. (Darrel Peterson, Carpio Farmer) "Soon as the sun goes down it's wet again" (Shaun Sipma, KX News) And it doesn't get dry until? (Darrel Peterson, Carpio Farmer) "Noon. Something like that." (Shaun Sipma, KX News) "So you've got about three hours to run." (Darrel Peterson, Carpio Farmer) "Yeah pretty short days." According to the USDA weekly crop report, North Dakota farmers have only harvested about 32 percent of the total sunflower acres in the state. A far cry from 72 percent a year ago and a five year average of 76 percent. Peterson says it's going to take some time to catch up and considering the few hours of sunlight each day warmer weather wouln't hurt. (Darrel Peterson, Carpio Farmer) "If we can get another week and a half a lot of it should be gone. But it's supposed to rain again." At least his sense humor hasn't damped with with some of the crop... Quality so far in the standing crop has held up and yields in Western & Central North Dakota are falling into the 16-hundred to two thousand pounds an acre category. Darrel says so far the crop looks good from the combine but hasn't had any of his tested yet. The main concern for him and others is just getting the crop cut and in the bin. North of Carpio with Your Eye On Agriculture, Shaun Sipma KX News.  « Less