On the final day of the Red River Farm Network Crop Tour, presented by Pioneer, the team traveled across northeastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. RRFN farm broadcasters Carah Hart and Don Wick began the day near Larimore, North Dakota at McCoy Pioneer Seed.
The area has received a lot of rain, and in places drown out is noticeably, but the precipitation has been timely. “With the amount of trash leftover from last year, Goss’s Wilt is showing up,” said Shaun McCoy. “One of the first places to look is corn that has been damaged by wind.” Shaun’s dad, Dennis, added that more sunflower acres were put in this year. “The big thing now it watch for blackbirds.” View the video interview.
Stop two of the day was at Dorothy, Minnesota. Black River Ag Owner Luke Forness encouraged farmers to keep weed management in mind for next year. “You need to know the field and identify the weed pressure present. That goes hand in hand with certain products and varieties that work on that ground.” Forness has more in this interview.
The damage has been done to some of the crop at Stephen, Minnesota. That’s because of heavy rainfall in June and July, according to Pioneer Seed dealer Alex Anderson. “Strong wind and hail were also apart of it, so it made for a tough growing season.” Sales associate Adam Gajeski added crops are okay in the places without drown out. “The sunflowers on higher ground look very nice, but the rain and heat has been tough on the canola.” Get the full details from the duo.
Based at St. Thomas, North Dakota, On-Target Ag Services owner Jordan Sagert describes the growing season as variable. “Some of our coverage area is sitting perfect on rain, others have too much, but overall the heat has helped find a balance.” Small grains are being harvested right now in the area. “Regardless of the crop being harvested, there are ways to prepare for next year, especially with variable rate technology,” said Andrew Carignan. Watch the video on Facebook.
Jensen Seed owner Carl Jensen said crops in the Pekin, North Dakota area could use some rain to help fill them out. “We went from too wet of a spring to a little bit of a flash drought with the row crops. The soybeans, corn and sunflowers are looking good, but could use a drink to prevent some yield loss.” The heat and dry weather is pushing the crop towards maturity. Listen to the interview.
Near Langdon, North Dakota while there isn’t a large amount of corn acres, canola can be found in fields spanning for miles. Pioneer sales representative Jace Ramberg says the canola crop is all over the board this year. “A lot of farmers didn’t get in until mid- to late-May. That was evident in the canola stands because of the wet conditions.” Ramberg has more in this interview.
Most of the corn in the Michigan, North Dakota area is in dough stage. While conditions have been favorable, North Forde Ag owner Josh Forde said the crop has many weeks between now and harvest. “Overall, I think farmers will be happy with their decision to plant an earlier maturing corn. We’ll get the top end yields out them.” Hear more from Forde.
Soybeans in the Rock Lake, North Dakota area “look quite good.” That’s according to Lakeview Seed owner Brock Mitchell, who added this may be the best they’ve looked for many years. “The pods are filling nicely, we just need a little more time for it to finish. Disease and pest pressure has also pretty much been nonexistent.” Looking ahead to 2021, Mitchell is excited about the new line of Liberty-tolerant canola, along with the introduction of Enlist soybeans. Listen to the full interview.
This leg of the crop tour was led by Pioneer field agronomist Kristi Sundeen. Overall, Sundeen summed up the conditions as “variable across the board.” That variability is showing up in the canola. Stands were spotty, but the crop turned around during flowering. “Not a lot of canola has come off yet, but I expect more within the next couple weeks.” The full video is available here.
Get caught up on the areas covered by the tour by following RRFN on Facebook and Twitter. Recaps are also available from days one, two and three.