This year's harvest has been an extremely trying time for corn and soybean producers who have struggled through perhaps the worst October ever for harvesting grain. As we enter November, only 25% of the corn and 51% of the soybeans are harvested - woefully behind the normal pace of 71% corn and 87% soybeans. This could be a disaster in waiting, and the market is starting to treat this serious threat to the 2009 crop with more and more price premium as time clicks on. The one thing that can seal the nail in this coffin is an early arrival of winter, effectively socking in a good share of the 2009 crop in the fields.
Soybeans could be more devastating than corn in this regard, as snow would shatter soybeans certainly more easily than causing losses in corn. But even corn could be affected, as corn needs time to dry down and also to get picked and dried in grain dryers. We already are getting well behind normal so that drying needs to occur at cooler temps in November instead of October - slowing the whole process down. The seriousness is even more evident when you consider that problem areas will take a while to dry down soils before being able to tackle the harvest. The time needed to do that will be frustratingly long, as the whole process of drying out soils takes longer in November under cooler conditions and shorter days than in September or October....Full article here
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