The year of the miserable harvest

Dec 30, 2019 at 08:10 AM CST
Upper Midwest agriculturalists are hardly strangers to difficult harvest conditions. But the 2019 crop season brought what many in area ag say was the worst, most onerous harvest in memory.The miserable harvest began with repeated rains in August that hampered combining wheat and other small grains. It continued with more rain in September and then widespread blizzards in October, November and December. All crops raised in the region suffered to some extent, as did virtually all farmers and ranchers.Other issues surfaced in area ag in 2019, too. Topping the list are President Donald Trump's controversial trade policies, high-profile legal/criminal cases, poor commodity prices and a difficult spring planting season.But 2019 will be remembered best and longest as the year of the miserable harvest.

Dec 30, 2019 at 08:10 AM CST

Upper Midwest agriculturalists are hardly strangers to difficult harvest conditions. But the 2019 crop season brought what many in area ag say was the worst, most onerous harvest in memory.The miserable harvest began with repeated rains in August that hampered combining wheat and other small grains. It continued with more rain in September and then widespread blizzards in October, November and December. All crops raised in the region suffered to some extent, as did virtually all farmers and ranchers.Other issues surfaced in area ag in 2019, too. Topping the list are President Donald Trump's controversial trade policies, high-profile legal/criminal cases, poor commodity prices and a difficult spring planting season.But 2019 will be remembered best and longest as the year of the miserable harvest.