An extremely wet fall season had little effect on the 2010 harvest.

According to Randy Peterson, field marketer with WFS in Clarks Grove, Freeborn County farmers saw an “overall pretty good” harvest.

Peterson said corn yields averaged 180 to 190 bushels per acre. He said soybeans averaged around 50 bushels per acre.

He said that the hot summer nights had more effect on the yields than heavy rains this fall.

“The corn matured quicker this year than last with 200 to 300 more heat units over last year,” he said.

He said when nights don’t cool, corn especially is under more stress, causing a quicker mature on the crop.

Peterson said test weights were better than those last year, with moisture levels considerably less than harvest 2009.

“It came out of the field basically dry,” he said. “Very little corn was run through a dryer.”

Peterson said good moisture levels in the soil this fall should carry over into decent moisture levels into spring, barring an extremely high amount of snowfall this winter.

Peterson also said that with all of the crops out of the fields this year, fieldwork going into spring will also be easier, keeping farmers on schedule.

“Last year, not all of the crops were harvested by spring and we had some guys harvesting grain in the spring, which put them behind on planning their fieldwork schedule,” he said.