Nebraska crop harvest in review

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Dryland acres faced a big challenge this year due to struggles with this year’s crop yield.

During a visit to the Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska annual meeting, we talked with a producer about this year’s corn harvest.

Andy Jobman is from the Gothenburg area.

“The harvest was unexpected, in that it was really bad in terms of dryland production,” Jobman said. “With the severe drought this summer, we picked some of the worst dryland yields we’ve ever had on our farm. Lots of zeros, lots of single-digit averages on the dryland acres. But on the flip side, some of the irrigated acres that we raise corn on were some of the best yields we’ve had. There were certainly fields that struggled to keep up with water, if you had a well that wasn’t quite productive enough, or if you had breakdowns, that usually cost you bushels in the end. But it was a wide range of production.”

Producers say that dryland acres were a mixed bag across the state. It seems the further west you went, the worst the yields were.

“The drought was certainly the biggest challenge we had this year,” Jobman said. “You are in it for the long run. You know you are going to have good years and bad years. To survive something like this, you have to be very disciplined with finances.”

Now farmers are looking ahead to 2023.

“Next year, we are looking ahead to plenty of policy activity in D.C. and at the state capitol,” Jobman said. “Mexico is making a lot of noise right now, saying they are going to ban GMO corn importation. Mexico is a huge market for Nebraska. These are issues we’ll be focused on, to get our products to people around the world who need them.”

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