Weekend cold snap hurts soybeans, corn

Southern Minnesota farmers are adding up the damage caused by a weekend frost.

Soybean leaves were white with frost Saturday morning as temperatures dipped into the lower 30s.

In south central Minnesota, the cold temperatures hurt the final stages of soybean and corn development, farmer and independent crop consultant Steve Sodeman said.

"Everything looked actually kind of nice, fairly decent on Saturday right after it happened. But yesterday it looked a lot worse," said Sodeman, of Trimont, Minn. "More tissue had been damaged, and the plants were just giving up."

Sodeman said some farmers could see as much as a 30-percent decline in the soybean harvest per acre. But corn farmers should see less severe damage, with yield losses of eight percent or less, he said.

"Definitely has affected the yields, no question," he said.