Should You Delay Harvest?

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East Lansing, Michigan (September 14, 2005) - There is speculation that the many challenges left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina may include delays and other problems associated with moving grain to and from ports in New Orleans.

Problems moving grain out of the Midwest may result in a very weak price basis (the difference between local cash grain price and futures price) at harvest. The weak basis may persuade many growers to store or delay harvest of their 2005 corn and soybean crops. Further aggravating the situation and motivating growers to delay harvest is the projected jump in energy costs associated with Katrina.

"Delaying harvest beyond optimum crop harvest moisture usually results in yield loss," says Kurt Thelen, Michigan State University (MSU) professor of crop and soil sciences. "The optimum grain harvest moisture to maximize crop yield is generally considered to be between 13 and 15 percent for soybeans and approximately 25 percent for corn."

When considering delaying harvest, it is important to measure the expected increase in harvest and field losses against potential savings in drying and storage costs. As energy costs for grain drying increase, the optimum economic moisture at harvest declines.

University of Kentucky Extension specialist Sam McNeill has developed a spreadsheet to estimate the optimum harvest moisture based on a range of energy cost scenarios. The spreadsheet is available online.

If delaying harvest becomes part of your management strategy for the 2005 crop, the following points should be considered when developing a harvest schedule:

• Full-season and Bt corn hybrids generally have greater standability and should be harvested after short-season or non-Bt hybrids.

• Continuous-corn fields may have greater corn rootworm damage and should be harvested ahead of corn fields grown in rotation with other crops.

• Fields observed to have a high incidence of stalk or stem rots are not good candidates for delayed harvest.

• Fields on poorly drained soils that are prone to stalk or stem rots should be harvested before more well-drained fields.

• Fields experiencing drought stress or other types of stress during the growing season will likely have higher than average harvest yield loss if harvest is delayed.

To learn more about strategies for harvest and see a table of average monthly losses for delayed harvest, visit the MSU Crop Advisory Team (CAT) Alert field crop Web page.

Contact:

Laura Probyn

517-432-1555