SEYMOUR, WISCONSIN (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Mike Maas and his family are in the process of harvesting the last of their 2020 crop in Seymour, Wisconsin.

“As far as harvest goes this has been a very good year,” Maas said.

Maas and his family farm corn, soybeans and Bison. He's seeing a decrease in corn yields, which he attributes to some poorly timed cold and wet weather this spring. However, he's seeing a nice bump on his soybean production.

Either way, things are going better for him this harvest season compared to last.

“Last year's was just a complete disaster,” Maas said “It's not over by any means, but this has been a lot more enjoyable versus fighting the mud last year.”

In 2019 a wet spring delayed a lot of Wisconsin farmers as they planted, then a cold and very wet fall prevented many from getting crops out of the field.

Paul Mitchell, director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, said this year is looking better for farmers.

“We've had a good year this year in terms of weather,” Mitchell said “We're going to have relatively high yields.”

Mitchell said there are some exceptions. A dry spell towards the end of the summer could have cost farmers some bushels. A wet week this week should slow farmers down too, particularly in parts of Northern Wisconsin that got snow. However, in general, he says the harvest is going okay.

Shawn Conley, State Extension Soybean and Small Grain Specialist with the University of Wisconsin, said a lot of farmers had a great year for soybeans.

“Most of the growers I've spoken with, this has been their top two or three soybean years ever, so a lot of farmers did really well,” Conley said.

Conley also said some poorly timed dry weather in August seems to have hurt yields for some farmers in Brown County and Southeast Wisconsin. However, he said in large part it looks like a good year for soybean farmers. Which is great news after a couple of rough years.

“It was extremely critical,” Conley said. “The last few years have been an economic issues for farmers given the trade issues with China, then we had really low prices and poor yields last year.”

Prices for Wisconsin farmers could continue to increase. Mitchell said markets are still assessing the damages from Derecho winds in August that damaged crops Iowa and Illinois — the top two producing states for those crops.

“When the leading corn and soybean producing areas have those kind of troubles it makes a difference,” Mitchell said.

The weather event left billions of dollars in damages in its wake, and blew over thousands of acres of fields. Mitchell said that puts pressure on the market to fill demand — pressure that will likely push prices up.

Mitchell said trade is starting to pick up as well, which could help farmers. Those things coupled with coronavirus relief payments could put Wisconsin farmers in a good spot this year.

“I'm actually fairly hopeful that in terms of crop production this year this is going to be a good year for Wisconsin farmers in yields and prices,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said farmers won't know for sure until the harvest is complete and the quality of corn is assessed. He said markets are facing a lot of uncertainty from the quality of crops, but also uncertainty surrounding trade and around the election.

Either way, Conley said because of the more cooperative weather, Wisconsin farmers are largely more optimistic now than this time last year.

“It basically puts the entire industry in a better mood if you will,” Conley said. “That totally carries over to the next growing season.”