2013 Harvest Report: Southeast Enjoying Perfect Harvest Weather

Terry Medley, Case IH Combine Product Specialist for Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel and eastern Texas, is today’s harvest blogger. Case IH product specialists are located in the field, close to the customers and dealers they support. They bring local, specialized product expertise, and go above and beyond to help Case IH customers Be Ready. Medley has been with Case IH for 37 years, spending the last seven years as a combine product specialist. As a second-generation Case IH employee, Medley grew up spending summers on his grandparents’ and uncles’ farms. 

In the Southeast, harvest usually starts around the Fourth of July, so we’re winding up in some areas. Many producers were two to three weeks late planting this spring, so some are running behind with harvest. An Arkansas customer is harvesting soybeans in some fields and irrigating beans in other fields at the same time.

In the Southeast, Mother Nature has cooperated with farmers during harvest.

Is harvest behind in your area? Let us know.

The southern parts of my region are 50 percent complete with the corn, rice, and soybean harvests. The northern part of the region is about 50 percent complete on corn and rice, but just starting beans. We normally finish harvest by the end of October, but this year it will be mid-November.

This year, I’m going to help with harvesting something new — one of my customers is harvesting sesame seeds. Other producers are harvesting edible beans, such as purple hull peas.

So far, the cotton harvest has been light in my area, as they also were behind with planting. Growers in my territory are just getting ready to start harvesting cotton.

The weather during this harvest season has been great in most areas. Georgia has received record amounts of rainfall, but not enough to hold up harvesting.

With later planting this year, some farmers have had a challenge with their crops not maturing. They’re seeing lots of green leaves on soybeans. Regardless of the crop’s condition, the Case IH Axial-Flow® combines have performed well.

Case IH customers have a lot of harvesting power available to them now, compared to even the last decade. Case IH’s largest combine from that time is the smallest combine available today. The torque rise and power we have now, compared to the competition, is unbelievable. In addition, we’re providing more power with more efficiency while burning less fuel. My Case IH customers know that when they get a Tier 4 combine, it has the power and efficiency to provide better performance in the field.