Warm, Dry Weather Speeds Minn. Soybean Harvest

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Unusually warm temperatures and continued dry conditions helped Minnesota soybean farmers make significant progress on the harvest this past week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its weekly crop weather report Tuesday that the state's soybean harvest was 83 percent complete as of Sunday, a 48-point jump from a week earlier. Those numbers compare with 74 percent at this point last year and 60 percent for the five-year average.

The statewide average temperature was 15 degrees above normal last week. Precipitation was light at most. The dry conditions are making fall tillage difficult for some farmers.

Corn was 20 percent harvested, compared with 15 percent last year and a 13 percent average.

Sugarbeets were 16 percent harvested, compared with 55 percent last year and a 50 percent average.

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