Ron Volk – who farms in north central North Dakota near Sherwood – says he’d like to complain about the 2009 harvest, but just can’t.
“It was our best worst harvest ever,” he says.
It took a long time for his wheat and oilseed crops to mature, and longer to combine them, but yields were excellent – 50 bushel canola, 70-80 bushel wheat, he says.
Brian and Sara O’Toole, Crystal, N.D., have a similar attitude. Yields were excellent. Wheat topped 100 bushels per acre in test plots on the farm they operate in partnership with Brian’s cousin, Tom.
“We would have been better off if we would have taken October off instead of combining and drying wet soybeans and edible beans,” Brian says.
In November, they were able to get all their soybeans and dry beans off and even get fields worked and ditches cleaned. The six inches of snow that fell last week brought fieldwork to an end.
“We’re in good shape for next year,” she says.