Minn. soybean, sugarbeet harvests nearly finished

Minnesota's soybean and sugarbeet harvests are virtually complete while the state's sunflower harvest is nearing completion.

In its weekly crop weather report for Minnesota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says the soybean and sugarbeet harvests were 99 percent complete as of Sunday, while sunflowers were 91 percent harvested. Those numbers are all well ahead of the averages.

Corn jumped 30 percentage points from the previous week to 77 percent harvested, compared with 6 percent last year and a 41 percent average.

The average moisture content of harvested corn is 14 percent, sparing farmers the expense of drying it. Last year's average moisture at this point was 29 percent, compared with a five-year average of 21 percent for the same week.

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