Harvest getting underway in Nebraska

With sunny, dry weather of late, some fields have dried down enough that farmers have started harvest, including Nebraska Corn Board farmer-director Mark Jagels of Davenport.

In fact, the photos on this post are from a video he posted on Facebook.

You can watch the videos on the Nebraska Corn Board's Facebook page: Facebook.com/NebraskaCornBoard.

As for specific numbers, in it's weekly crop progress report today, USDA said Nebraska farmers had harvested 6 percent of the state's corn crop as of Sept. 25. That’s on par with the five-year average and 3 points behind last year when the crop matured and dried down very quickly (and early).

USDA said 52 percent of Nebraska's corn crop was mature, off 5 points from average. Dry, warmer weather this week will advance that figure quickly.

As for crop condition, 76 percent of the state's corn crop was rated good to excellent, with 17 percent fair. Nationally, that figure stood at 52 percent, with 28 percent fair – a year ago the national ratings were 68 percent good to excellent and 21 percent fair.

For national harvest figures, 15 percent of the crop was in the bin, 1 point behind the five-year average and 9 points behind last year's early crop. USDA said 63 percent of the nation's crop was mature, 1 point behind average and 20 points behind last year.