By John Nelson, Extension Educator in Lancaster County
Increased disease pressure, especially in corn, may present some challenges during the 2025 harvest and beyond. Tamra Jackson-Ziems, UNL Extension Plant Pathologist has suggested conducting “push or pinch” tests in corn fields that have experienced disease or other crop stresses during the growing season. Diseased or stressed corn plants can develop stalk rot diseases or have general standability issues, and it is highly recommended that growers scout fields before harvest and prioritize those fields that could have problems.
The “push test” consists of pushing at least 100 corn plants to arm’s length (about 30 degrees from vertical.) If plants bend below the ear and don’t snap back upright, they have a greater chance of lodging at, or prior to, harvest if there are high wind events or heavy rainfall. If more than 10% of plants fail the test, you may consider harvesting early or harvesting the highest-risk fields first.
Some remember the dry soybean conundrum we faced during the 2024 harvest. We all heard reports of soybeans being harvested well below 10% moisture levels, which can make a bad year for profitability even worse by reducing the number of bushels going across the scale. Jenny Brhel, York County Water & Cropping Systems Extension Educator, just wrote an article on the benefits of beginning harvest before soybeans reach the elevator standard of 13% (see https://jenreesources.com/2025/09/07/harvest-soybean-moisture). In this article, Jenny makes the case for trying to harvest soybeans just before they reach the 13% moisture target, even if it means slower harvest speeds and paying some dockage at the elevator. The math works out such that harvesting beans at 13.8% and paying the ~2.5% dock at the elevator, is much more profitable than harvesting at 9% moisture (which was fairly common in 2024). In this scenario, harvesting at the higher moisture will improve net returns by more than $13/acre in beans yielding 75 bushels/acre.
Above all, slow down, be aware of your surroundings and have a safe and prosperous harvest.