Farmers find variable harvest

While the weather is cooperating now for farmers to get into their fields to harvest, it’s what Mother Nature did earlier this year that is impacting yields for area farmers.

For crop farmer Mallorie Decoux, this fall’s harvest is coming in variable at best. She farms 2,500 acres of corn and soybeans with her father, Duane Dietz, in Merton Township located east of Medford.

“The theme of the year is variable,” said Decoux while taking a short break Saturday afternoon as she and her husband, Kyle Decoux, tag teamed with a combine and tractor and trailer running alongside to haul away the freshly picked corn. “It has been a challenging year. It was such a weird weather year,” she said, noting it didn’t stop raining the entire month of June, which impacted the growth of the crops.

Added Kyle, “The yields are like a roller coaster.”

The Decouxs point to one of their fields along Rush Creek where not much tiling has taken place. In that field, they are yielding as low as 180 bushels per acre, while in other fields that have been tiled are producing about 240 bushels. They generally hope to see at least 220 bushels per acre. Last year they saw yields as high as 260 bushels.

While they agree this year’s harvest is not perfect, they also acknowledge that it didn’t turn out as bad as they initially anticipated.

Moisture levels for the harvested corn is averaging 15-20%, according to Kyle. That is good news as the lower levels will drive down fuel costs for drying grain.

Mallorie estimates they had in all about 50 acres of drown outs from the rain, while some of their neighbors experienced as much as 100 acres. “The water could not go anywhere,” she said.

But she’s taking it all in stride.

“It could be a lot worse,” Mallorie said, who has been farming for about 10 years. “We were pretty fortunate.”

Despite the unusually wet growing year, Mallorie said things changed within the past month as the fields quickly dried up. “We feel like we’re ahead of the game,” she said, pointing to the calendar of Oct. 12 more than half of their crop had already been harvested. “This is early to have this much corn out,” she added.

With no real measurable rain in the forecast, Mallorie hopes to finish up without working too many late nights. She said last year they pulled a 23-hour straight stint of harvesting to finish up. She doesn’t expect that to happen this year.

Both Mallorie and Kyle marveled at how things can change in a hurry when it comes to the weather.

“Now we’re praying for rain,” Kyle said. “We can’t get tillage equipment in the field because the ground is so hard.”

They will be storing the grain because of what Mallorie calls “bad” commodity prices. Corn has been hovering around $3.90 per bushel mark this fall. “The market has been so volatile,” she said, adding that the hardest part of farming is guessing when to sell the grain.

Even though she “didn’t help a ton” while in high school, Mallorie enjoys farming because of the variety of work it offers. “It’s always something different, and I like being outside,” she said. “It doesn’t really feel like work.”

And, she added with a smile, “It’s just in my blood. My dad calls me his hired man.”