05 Dec Christy: Fall harvest summary

One of my favorite pictures from this fall. This was taken during corn just north of Round Lake, Minnesota. 

Worthington, Minnesota—Fall harvest as a whole this year was quick and dry. We ended early, and thankfully so before the cold hard winter settles in. After sharing a wonderful Thanksgiving in South Dakota with Paul’s brother, everyone is back home and back to work. Two of our winter crew have returned, and we expect to see two more back the first of December.

Another favorite sunset picture in soybeans by Round Lake, Minnesota. 

Yields this fall were better for soybeans than for corn, though they weren’t terrible. As I’ve mentioned before, we saw a lot more devastation during wheat harvest due to drought conditions. As dry as it was this fall, and through some of the summer, it showed when we started harvesting. Hopefully we will see more moisture through the winter and into spring for a good planting season next spring.
Though the fall was fast, it was packed with many memories made, and not without its challenges. A little bit of transmission issues with our combines held us up here and there, but thankfully we were able to get parts and repair them quickly. Aside from that, equipment ran well.
The quick fall due to great combining weather left us with some great opportunities to capture harvest at its best. I was able to get lots of great pictures, especially at sunset.

Zoey grabbing a few bean plants to count pods right by our home farm. As she gets older, her interest in how everything works grows, too. 

Our crew this year was one of the best. Our two J1 visa trainees proved to be very versatile running different equipment and gaining some great experience. We’re so grateful to have been able to host them this year. I really look forward to working with the University of Minnesota next year to hopefully open up a few more spots on our crew for J1 trainees. As for our returning crew members—they continued to lead our new members, and also proved their versatility jumping in where needed. I hope we get to see their faces next season as well.
We’re also really blessed to have so many awesome sponsors this year for All Aboard Fall Harvest. Without our sponsors, we wouldn’t be able to reach so many of you curious about how harvest rolls out in so many different areas. It’s really great to be able to share our experiences. Thanks sponsors.

Combining early beans by Round Lake, Minnesota. Beans overall did well this year. 

Thanks also to our readers, we’re so thankful for your interest in the fall harvest run. It’s always a joy and pleasure to share what we go through and how different and unique each area we combine is. Hope everyone has a healthy and safe winter, and I can’t wait to see how next year’s season turns out.

Christy Paplow can be reached at christy@allaboardharvest.com.

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