The weather experts predict smooth sailing through harvest; just what every farmer wants to hear.

The word comes on the heels of a growing season that was anything but normal weather-wise.

“Despite the sometimes odd growing conditions, crops are progressing ahead of schedule,” says Dennis Todey, director of the USDA Midwest Climate Hub for USDA-ARS, NLAE in Ames. “The current growing degree day model has harvest beginning early September, possibly the end of August in some areas.” As of the end of July, 96 percent of ...