After a hot, dry summer, Niagara, North Dakota farmer Randy Schaley was preparing for a disappointing harvest. Instead, wheat, canola and soybeans performed better than expected. “We were expecting quite a bit of a short crop with the heat and dryness we had, but it seemed like every crop came through a little bit better than expected,” Schaley said. Attention has now shifted to corn, but moisture levels remain higher than desired. “We were expecting kind of a wreck, and we hope it’s better than that.” Schaley said the hot summer also resulted in relatively low disease pressure, which may have helped the crop.
