Time To Be Patient with the Bean Harvest

This is a picture of one of my bean fields. I planted this small field with an earlier variety while the rest of my beans were a full-season variety. I planted a few acres of an earlier variety so I could get started with harvest. It always seems like you can have the combine checked over and all greased, augers set up but there always seems to be something you did not anticipate that slows you down. That is why it is nice to have a few acres ready and not the entire crop waiting because something did not go right.

Typically, fuller season varieties have a higher yield than earlier ones. I don't have a lot of acres so I go for the varieties that gives me the highest yield. However that yield gap has narrowed a lot in recant years. Most farmers today do plant early, midseason and full season varieties. That means they are not all ready for harvest at the same time. Beans can be up to 13 percent moisture before you are docked at the elevator. If beans are ready and not harvested they can get really dry. I remember one year we had warm, sunny weather and some beans got down to 9 percent moisture. In addition to losing the extra water to sell, harvest losses go up dramatically when they get too dry. In fact you will even hear beans bouncing off the cab windows!