Kansas harvest season slowed by abnormally wet conditions

KANSAS (KSNT) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that harvests for Kansas crops like corn, soybean, sorghum and sunflower are well behind last year’s average, largely due to a 200% increase in precipitation for most parts of the state.

The USDA reports that in Kansas, the following crop harvests are behind:

• Corn: 29% harvested, behind 51% last year and the 42% average.
• Soybean: 5% harvested, behind 10% last year and the 12% average.
• Sorghum: 7% harvested, behind 16% last year and the 12% average.
• Sunflower: 6% harvested, behind 10% last year and the 7% average.

The National Weather Service reported on Sept. 29 that southwest Kansas has experienced a significantly wetter September than average. This is following a similarly wet August, as reported by the Kansas State Weather Data Library.

What complicates this year’s harvest season are wet and dry patterns. While it’s rained far more than usual in September, this week is expected to be almost entirely dry for much of the state.

27 News Meteorologist Evan Beidron reports this has been an odd weather cycle for the state. While the northern and eastern parts of Kansas have experienced fewer severe weather events, southern and western areas have had an active year for both tornadoes and severe storms. Rainy summers are great for crop yields, but if the rain continues into the harvest season, it could pose problems for crops and farmers.

Crops like soybeans need consistent weather patterns to dry out properly, and repeated drying and rewetting cycles can stunt yields significantly. For others, significant rainfall in the harvest season can delay production by weeks. Late harvests can potentially devastate farms by vastly increasing yield losses by exposing the crop to diseases and rot, as well as by creating larger drying costs for farmers.

Although it has been a wet harvest thus far, October and November are looking to be much drier.

“The longer term outlook seems to be calling for dry and above normal temperatures,” said Lucas Haag, associate professor at Kansas State Southwest. “This is good for fall harvest, so it’s quite likely well catch up to, and potentially exceed historical harvest rates quite quickly.”

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