2015 Has Been Good Year For Farmers, UW Specialists Say

Even though harvest is months away, agriculture experts say most of Wisconsin’s corn and soybean crop is exceeding expectations.

It’s been a good year for Wisconsin farmers, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison corn agronomist Joe Lauer. He said there’s been a good balance of rain and warm, sunny days.

Northeast Wisconsin has proven to be an exception. “The Green Bay, Valders area has been very wet and so they’ve lost a lot of nitrogen and things like that earlier in the season,” said Lauer.

Corn is now pollinating, and Lauer said that if all goes well, there should be a good crop overall. UW-Madison soybean specialist Shawn Conley said other than in the northeast, beans are also doing very well.

“I would say they’d be, at this point, above trend. And there’ll be some areas of the state where we may see some record yields,” he said.

As for winter wheat, Conley says the harvest is on and farmers are getting between 80 and 120 bushels per acre.