Weather more like January than November stopped farmers from completing field work in Wisconsin last week, with frozen ground putting off fall tillage until next spring.
The crop progress report through Nov. 23 said overnight lows below zero in northern Wisconsin put a halt to field work, and subsequent warmer temperatures during the weekend caused new problems, with rain driving up grain and soil moisture.
The report comes from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.
"It was 20 below on Thursday morning, with what looked like permanent snow cover, then snow was mostly gone and in the 40s on Sunday," a Rusk County report said. "Not sure what's going to happen next."
In Waupaca County, "Farmers are anxious to get crops out of the fields before more losses due to wind and snow damage."
The crop report showed corn for grain was 73 percent harvested, with grain moisture at harvest averaging 21 percent.
"With grain moistures still high, reporters commented that driers were struggling to keep up with demand," the report said.
Ninety-five percent of soybeans had been harvested and winter wheat was 91 percent emerged, with the condition of winter wheat 66 percent good to excellent.
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