View From the Cab

DECATUR, Ill. (DTN) -- There's a reason irrigation prevails in central Nebraska. Dry is a common condition across the Great Plains. But this year has been different for Zoerb Farms, which headquarters near Litchfield.

Early season drought concerns mostly evaporated as rains found the farm with some frequency this summer. Now, unlike large portions of the Midwest reporting rainfall deficits, Ethan Zoerb was trying to find crop and conditions dry enough to harvest this week.

"We got a 1.5-inch surprise shower yesterday and it was a reminder to tarp the grain cart if I leave it in the field -- even if there's no rain in the forecast," he said on Oct. 2.

Stuart Sanderson's harvest has nearly ended in north central Alabama near Madison. Double-crop soybeans are all that's left to cut. This farm's crews were busy drilling winter canola and thinking ahead to 2026.

Sanderson and Zoerb have been reporting in this season as part of DTN's View From the Cab series. The series covers current crop conditions and other rural issues. This is the 23rd installment for a growing season that has been filled with weather ups and downs for the two farmers.

DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick said the weather pattern is about to turn, but the forecast remains complicated.

"Models are all over the board with how to treat the weather pattern over the course of the week. So, expect changes to occur," Baranick noted.

"In Litchfield, there should be a front that moves through early in the week. It may bring some showers, but should bring through a burst of cooler temperatures, at least keeping them away from the 90-degree mark. But what happens afterward is tough to see.

"There could be some showers and another system later in the week or weekend, but models really don't know what to do about it," Baranick noted. "We could see some very high temperatures if the system is delayed, or some very cool ones if a significant front moves through. DTN is betting on the warmer temperatures, but not to the degree some models are forecasting. It'll be an interesting week to see what happens."

For Alabama, the forecast is a lot less uncertain in the Madison area. "We should see some showers through Thursday as moisture comes up from the Gulf and meets a front moving through the area Wednesday or Thursday. Temperatures will fall a few degrees, but not all that much. Highs will go from the 80s to the upper 70s most likely," Baranick said.

STUART SANDERSON: MADISON, ALABAMA

Double-crop soybeans need another week or more to finish on Henderson Farms, where Sanderson is a family partner. They'll wait for desiccant to do its work before cutting the beans at around 14% to 13.5% moisture.

"They'll dock you a little bit over 14%," he said of local grain buyers. "But you make it back up in weight, so it's not that big of a deal," he said.

The farm's bins are full, and Sanderson is still deciding on what to do with the beans he doesn't already have contracted. "There's about a 65-cent difference in price to wait until December or January, so we may put some in a bag to hold them," he said.

There are plenty of other chores to tackle while they wait on soybeans. An EF-2 tornado touched down in Limestone County last May that covered a path of more than 13 miles and was 380 yards wide. This week, the farmers were using a bulldozer and backhoe to clean up some of the tree damage left by the storm.

Seeding canola was underway this week, too. The crop is being grown as part of a partnership between Corteva and Bunge Chevron Ag Renewables. Sanderson sees it as a new revenue opportunity that also broadens opportunities for double-cropping rotations, since the hybrids being used are specifically bred for the purpose. Winter canola generally matures earlier than other winter crops to allow earlier planting and leaves less residue in the field than other winter crops.

The farm uses John Deere ExactEmerge planters, and the standard components are not designed for canola's small seeds, Sanderson said. "So, we decided to put a new set of rollers into our 36-foot grain drill for an easy upgrade, and the seeding went great. We immediately turned the pivots on in those freshly drilled fields to give them a good soaking and to try to get a good stand going.

"We're dry right now, but conditions are good for seeding. We'll be getting wheat ground ready this week and seeding that next," he said.

ETHAN ZOERB: LITCHFIELD, NEBRASKA

The anticipation that comes with harvest turned to slight disappointment this week for Zoerb. An aggressive crop scout, he works hard to have a good handle on yield potential.

But as he began to open the first fields, he found more wind damage within than expected in the corn crop. "We're really not far enough along to put numbers to much yet, but I'm guessing we're looking around 10% to 15% under our APH (actual production history) on corn," he said.

"We had three or four different wind events that came through this summer and had some breakage each time," Zoerb recalled. "At the time, we estimated about 1% to 3% injury. That's not a big deal if it is one time, but with several events, it starts to add up."

Southern rust was also an issue in this part of Nebraska, but Zoerb felt the farm's fungicide treatments were timely and that they provided good protection. He also achieved good control of Western bean cutworm this year. But Zoerb has noted in previous reports that the summer seemed to have more cloudy days than normal, and he wonders if it has influenced crop maturation.

"There are some definite yield differences from hilltops to bottoms in the fields we've been in so far, but we're just not far enough along with harvest to make overall yield statements just yet," he added.

On the other hand, the first field of soybeans he cut yielded better than expected. "But I wasn't expecting it to be great. I've been worried about bean yields all year. And I had to look hard to find a field that was at 14% or below just to get going," he said.

Moisture matters because the farm often uses temporary, in-field polyethylene grain storage bags for soybeans and saves on-farm bin space for corn. "You want the beans going into bags to be consistently dry without green material," Zoerb said.

"We will lightly vertical till the area where the bag is going to get rid of sharp stubble that might poke holes in the bag. Where you place them should be well drained," he added. Another recommendation includes placing bags to north and south, so solar heating is similar on both sides of the bag.

Zoerb said he's watching corn fields for stalk integrity and for ear molds in hybrids that exhibit tighter husks, especially if wet conditions continue.

"We switched both combines over to beans this week as they were the most consistently ready things we had to harvest. But the morning fog has been heavy here, and sometimes it is noon before we can get started," he noted.

The rolling hills restricts how fast and furious harvest can go. The farm currently uses MacDon draper soybean heads to hug those hills.

"I've never actually used anything but a draper header in soybeans," said the young farmer. "They flex well over our terrain. We run 40-foot headers on our 8600 (Claas) combines. We might be able to go to 45 feet, but there's no way I'd chance using a 50-foot head in these hills."

Pamela Smith can be reached at pamela.smith@dtn.com

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