Harvest season causing some difficulties

There are a few issues with getting crops out of the fields during this harvest season.

After a wet spring delayed the planting of crops this spring a cool growing season hasn’t provided the right atmosphere for crops to dry out and it could be costing area farmers. OSU Extension Educator Mark Mechling explained how leaving crops in the fields provide a greater opportunity for big yield loss.

"We’re beginning to see things get started late and not really terribly productive where we’d like to be," said Mechling. "The longer this harvest season goes, typically we would say in mid-November we start seeing some yield loss."

Mechling sighted things such as high winds blowing crops over, and wildlife getting into the crops as sources of that yield loss. There have also been a couple issues in the area over the last few months. First the elevator explosion in Coshocton County in August then a recent dryer fire. Those combined with a larger than normal crop yield is providing major storage issues.

"Even though we’ve had some disruptions here locally it would still be an issue whether those disruptions occurred or not, so the large crop is going to be a handful," said Mechling.

To overcome storage issues Mechling recommended that farmers work with local elevators to find out what options they have.