Aneta, North Dakota farmer Fred Lukens started harvesting barley at the end of July. There are uneven fields, which means Lukens is getting more strategic at harvest. “We’ve never harvested quite this way before; leaving lots of green spots in the field. Our overall moisture content is under 17 percent, but we’ll go from 15 to 22 percent at the edge of the green spots. We’ll have to go back and harvest that later.” Lukens says contract barley for malting can be rejected for having too many green kernels. This will be a longer harvest than usual. “I have a 200-some acre field that is two weeks away from harvest, because it has a lot of hills, ridges and green. Realistically from start to finish, our barley harvest may take three weeks when it should only take one week.”
