Minnesota crops ready to harvest weeks ahead of schedule

Minnesota farmers are taking advantage of the dry weather and getting an early start on the fall harvest. Combines started rolling through corn and soybean fields last week, the Pioneer Press reports.

Despite the lack of rain, Minnesota escaped the disastrous drought conditions seen in much of the nation’s heartland.

Gene Michelson tells KARE 11 “Some of the ears here are pretty decent, but you can see they’re tipped back a little bit, they’re not filled completely to the end.”

Two percent of the state’s corn and soybean acres have already been harvested, according to a weekly report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The Pioneer Press notes Minnesota farmers expect to harvest a record 8.25 million acres of corn and 6.9 million acres of soybeans this year.