By Julie Ingwersen
CHICAGO, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Mostly dry conditions allowed U.S. farmers to forge ahead with the harvest of soybeans and corn in the last week, with progress in soybeans approaching the halfway point, analysts said.
The soybean harvest was 45 percent complete as of Sunday, according to a Reuters poll of 14 analysts. The estimates ranged from 35 to 72 percent.
The corn harvest was 31 percent finished, according to the average of 12 analysts. The estimates on corn harvest progress ranged from 25 to 40 percent.
A week ago, a Reuters analyst poll pegged the corn harvest as of Oct. 6 at 20 percent complete and soybeans at 22 percent.
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Farmers typically shift their focus to soybeans around this time of year to limit the threat of yield loss. As soybeans mature and lose moisture content, they become prone to shattering in the field, analysts said.
“Trucks are hauling all beans and very little corn,” said Roy Huckabay with the Linn Group, a Chicago brokerage, adding, “The reality is that we are on the downhill side of the (soybean) harvest.”
Mike Zuzolo, president of Global Commodity Analytics in Atchison, Kansas, noted “much more progress coming from the eastern Corn Belt in beans, with many clients finishing this week.”
Rains will interrupt fieldwork across about half of the U.S. Midwest in the next two days, but conditions turn drier after that with delays confined to the Mississippi River Delta, a meteorologist said.
The U.S. Agriculture Department, which typically provides a weekly harvest estimate, was not expected to release a crop progress and conditions report this week due to the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government. This week’s report would normally be released on Tuesday due to Monday’s observance of the Columbus Day holiday.
USDA last reported harvest progress as of Sept. 29 at 11 percent for soybeans and 12 percent for corn.
