AREA HARVEST UNDER WAY

Corn production in Cape Girardeau County is more than 90 percent complete, with some yields topping the 200-bushel mark an acre.

"Corn yields have varied throughout the county," said Terry Birk, of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency office in Jackson, Mo. The harvest is about two weeks ahead of last year, with production reported as good.

Statewide, the corn was 67 percent harvested following the weekend, ranging from 39 percent in the northwest district to 98 percent in Southwest Missouri. The Bootheel area reports corn nearly 93 percent harvested.

A lot of corn is grown throughout Southeast Missouri. Four counties -- Stoddard, New Madrid, Mississippi and Scott -- rank among the top four corn-producing counties in the state.

The harvest is well under way for cotton and rice, with about a fourth of the two crops out of the fields. The soybean harvest has barely started.

Statewide, the soybean crop has turned color and is dropping leaves, but the harvest is only 15 percent complete.

Harvesting ranged from 2 percent in the Southeast area to 32 percent the west-central area.

"We're probably in that two percent group in Cape County," said Birk, "but as soon as weather permits, farmers will be in the soybean fields."

Mississippi and Stoddard are among the state's top 10 soybean-producing counties.

Farmers over the past week had five days in the field, before this week's rains.

Meanwhile, cotton conditions ranged from fair to good in the Bootheel.

Ninety percent of the bolls have started opening, said Bob Phipps, a cotton specialist from the University of Missouri Delta Center at Portageville, Mo.

"A number of farmers are harvesting, with good results," said Phipps. "About a fourth of the crop has been harvested, and overall, the 2000 crop is much better than a year ago."

Nearly 99 percent of Missouri cotton is raised in half a dozen Southeast Missouri counties. Dunklin County has planted from 150,000 to 200,000 acres over the past two years, and New Madrid County has planted about 100,000 acres the past two years. Other Missouri counties with cotton include Pemiscot, Scott, Stoddard, Butler and Dade.

Overall, the state will harvest about 400,000 acres of cotton.

Half that many acres of rice will be harvested in the Southeast Missouri area.

"All of the rice in Missouri is raised eight Southeast Missouri counties," said Bruce Beck, a rice specialist at Poplar Bluff, Mo., "and, farmers are harvesting it as fast as they can."

The 2000 rice crop was a good one, Beck said. Early yields have been above average.

"More than a fourth of the crop has been harvested," said Beck.

A lot of rice in the Bootheel area goes to Riceland Rice elevators at Poplar Bluff, Caruthersville and Dudley; some of it goes to Dreyfuss Rice Mill at New Madrid.

Rice production has increased over the past three years, from about 130,000 acres in 1998 to more than 175,000 this year.