By 11/1/09, 25% Of US Corn Crop In (5-Yr Av. 85%); 50% Of Soybeans (5-Yr Av. 71%) - Reuters

[hatrack]

MARENGO, Illinois (Reuters) - Brothers Steve and Ron Pierce spent most of an hour in a chilly northern Illinois field last week clearing a clog of soybean chaff from the guts of their combine, using a mix of tools and their bare hands. "The beans get tough when they pick up moisture," Steve Pierce said. The clog had idled the $260,000 harvester, another delay in what has been the harvest from hell across the U.S. Midwest corn and soybean belt.

The clock is ticking on farmers like the Pierce brothers all across the Midwest as they scramble to bring in the largest U.S. soybean crop on record and the second-largest corn crop before winter arrives. Late-maturing crops and persistent rain throughout October halted fieldwork, making this the slowest start for the U.S. harvest since the 1970s. The delays -- and questions about crop quality -- have kept Chicago Board of Trade grain markets on the boil.

EDIT

By November 1, U.S. farmers had brought in only half the soybean crop and one-quarter of the corn, well below the five-year averages of 87 percent and 71 percent, respectively. Because of the late harvest, some analysts say the true size of the U.S. corn and soybean crops might not be known until well into 2010 -- possibly even after the USDA issues its "final" production numbers in January.

"This is the latest harvest we've had in a very long time, so there are lots of questions out there that we would not have normally," said Patrick Westhoff, co-director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri. "It's really tough, in a year like this, to get a handle on things."

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http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5AC3BS20091113

[msongs]

1. hope they harvested the edible corn first not the corporate products corn nt

[madrchsod]

3. that`s been harvested several months ago.

the stuff that still standing across the street is good old field corn.

[madrchsod]

2. last weather we had like this was 1940.

the fields are dry because of almost two weeks of cool dry weather but the moisture content did`t have that "indian summer" heat.

the chicago board of trade is`t for the faint of heart this year