USDA reports that farmers took advantage of a dry week to get 17 percent of the corn out and 14 percent more soybeans harvested last week. The new crop progress report has the soybean harvest nearing average for this time of year at 89 percent, while corn remains about 35 percent behind normal at just 54 percent complete. North Dakota has yet to get out of the single digits in corn harvesting, but they do have 80 percent of the soybeans complete.

The late harvest was one of the major topics of discussion for National Corn Growers Association first vice president Bart Schott of North Dakota at the NAFB Trade Talk last week. Bart is still optimistic because the corn remains in good to excellent condition. “If we get a few more weeks of really nice weather, we’ll get this corn crop off in good shape,” he said. Despite the problems this year, he says the crop continues to look good and is still expected to be the second largest on record, “If there’s ever been a debate about whether we can produce enough corn feed our exports, livestock industry and ethanol industry, this will be the second year in a row that we’ve proved them wrong.”

Listen to my interview with Bart here.