This was a year of extremes. We started off better than I've ever seen. That changed with one storm at the end of June, and it was pretty much downhill from there. There was no rain in July or early August. All told we had drought, we had flooding, we had winds. We had a close to 10-inch rain, and we had winds of over 80 mph. At the end of it all we had above-average yields, although the amounts varied a lot from field to field.

Most guys are done, but there’s still a little harvesting going on, mostly guys with fields that were waterlogged. The ground has been cold enough that guys are pulling anhydrous rigs out and stopping tillage work. I’m sure some guys are wishing it would freeze so they could harvest the last few acres and thaw so they could get some fieldwork done.

Some guys are still finishing the harvest, but quite a few are done. We're spreading dry fertilizer. We're hoping some ammonia will go on the fields later this week, but it will depend on the soil conditions. The ground is getting to be in better shape, but now the extent of the fieldwork that gets done will depend on the weather.

It was nice early last week, but then we had 2 inches of rain over the weekend. I know very few guys who still have beans to cut. I would say that overall about 80 to 90 percent of the crop is harvested in our area. I am a little concerned about fall anhydrous applications. With a late harvest and wet fields, conditions are not very good for anhydrous.

I finished the harvest on my farm this past week, but most guys are still going. I would guess 75 percent of the crop is out. I had one test plot that came out at 265 bushels, but that is obviously more than most fields. Some soybean varieties are shattering, but that was mostly on early varieties that were ready to harvest before the rains hit and were delayed. Later-maturing beans look fine. There is a lot of yield variability out there.

It's go time. The fields are firming up, thanks to some sunshine and dry weather. Guys are going really hard on the beans. There are some beans with damage — we had up to 30 percent damage in one field — but most of the beans are OK. I saw a good response from using fungicide on my beans this year, about an 8 bushel difference.

It's kind of exciting to see the sun. A few guys in the area combined a little corn Saturday night (Oct. 13). By mid-week this week we should be going. Still, we're starting to see a lot of quality issues with the soybeans. There are beans swelling or sprouting in the pod. I really think bean quality is going to be an issue.

We've had 4.5 inches of rain the last couple of days. It's wet. The tile lines are running around here now, and they weren't for most of the summer. The rivers are high, but not out of their banks. My concern is that this will lead to more people eventually going through the mud and causing ruts and other problems this fall.