Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota

Tough growing season.   In August and September people in northwest Minnesota began to speculate that the later than normal planting dates (in some instances) and mild summer and fall temperatures would have an impact on whether or not the corn crop would reach maturity before a killing frost.   The record-setting rainfall throughout much of the region in September and October brought many cloudy days which also did not help the accumulation of starch during the last bit of the grain fill period.   When it was difficult to find a milk line toward the middle of September, one could anticipate problems.

This fall has been challenging for crop producers in the Red River Valley (RRV).   Record-setting rainfall in September and October throughout much of the region slowed harvest, caused equipment to get bogged down in mud and left some crops (some potatoes and sugar beets) inaccessible before they were damaged by frost.   The last 30 days, however brought an additional hardship – daily maximum and minimum temperatures that were far below climatological “normal”.  The North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) has weather monitoring stations located throughout both sides of the RRV. Data was accessed from the Fargo, North Dakota and Ada, Eldred, Warren, Mavie and Kennedy, Minnesota NDAWN locations (Figure 1).   Warren experienced the most days with daily high temperatures at least 10 and 15 degrees below normal, while Ada and Warren were tied for the most days with daily high temperatures at least 20 degrees below normal (Table 1).   The Mavie weat...