AUDIO: Duane Aistrope, Fremont County farmer
Nearly a third of the Iowa soybean crop was harvested this past week. According to USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service, Southwest and south central Iowa remain the only districts to not reach 50 percent harvested.
Duane Aistrope grows corn and soybeans in Fremont County.
?I just got started here on beans two days ago. First beans I?ve done I may be 10 percent done on (them) but I mostly have beans done by now,? Aistrope said last Friday morning. ?I?m usually done the second week of November, but this year it is going to be well into November before I get done.? Harvest progress remains behind both the previous year and the five-year average.
On the positive side, there were several reports for both corn and soybeans that yields were better than expected.
?My yields have been, like my corn, some of the best soybeans I?ve ever had. The average on this field at the Mills and Fremont county line is 75, not saying that is accurate but even if you take 10 bushels away I?d be tickled to death, Aistrope grinned.
Soybean condition is rated 64 percent good to excellent. Harvest increased to 61 percent complete but this is the smallest percentage harvested by this date since 2009.
