After a big rain that came through last week, farmers are now getting back into the fields and taking advantage of recent warm and dry weather in the southeast.

A better forecast for the future

The forecast ahead is filled with warm weather and only the occasional rainfall, a change that farmers are looking forward to during harvest.

Other factors like some light wind will also help, but some damage may already be done, says Agrologist Edgar Hammermeister.

"The impact that the rain can have on the quality of crop, the first thing that can happen is just a loss in bushel weight. You can lose anywhere from 2 to 10 per cent of your yield just with a change in bushel weight. You don't necessarily have a change in grade, but the farmer's income has been impacted just from the loss of bushel weight."

"After that, you can start having bleaching and further down the line you can start having sprouting. The sprouting really happens after the crop has dried down fully and then has been re-wetted. I don't think we were in that phase of harvest yet. I think the quality itself may be not impacted too much, but bushel weight may have had some impact."

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Keeping an eye on fire threat after moisture

While such a huge rain is keeping the ground wet for a while, Hammermeister says farmers will still need to keep an eye out for any fires.

"It's always in the back of a farmer's mind about what the fire threat could be. Right now, it'll be a little bit of a lower threat because the humidity levels are going to be higher. But it doesn't take very long. With the forecast, if we have an extended period of dry conditions and with the crop not growing anymore, there's less moisture being pumped into the air, there'll be lower humidity, things will start to dry down fairly quickly here."

Hammermeister reminds farmers to have fire suppression equipment, such as extinguishers, ready for any scenario.

Keeping steady to avoid injury

While Hammermeister says that the harvest isn't delayed yet, further moisture could cause increasing delays and more stress, which could lead to injury.

"We're not behind in harvest really at this point, but there's always pressure. We're anxious to get the crop off and sometimes we get rushed in the heat of the moment. Take a moment to think about what's happening, especially if there's other people working around equipment. 

"Communication is very good because you don't want to have an injury at any time, but having lost time to injury as you start a busy season is a worst-case scenario. So just guys to take a moment to make sure that whoever's working with you is aware of what project you're on, what part of the process, and that everybody's on the same page."

With so much harvest hustle going on in the southeast Hammermeister reminds people to keep an eye out for farm equipment on the road.