Bruce Peterson inspects the field of garden peas ahead of harvest. Photo by Andrea Johnson.

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Pea harvesters and trucks arrived at Far-Gaze Farm in early July. It was time to pick the garden peas for processing at the new Birdseye plant in Waseca.

Harvested July 6-8, the Petersons’ raw peas yielded very well – over 6,000 pounds per acre. To put that in perspective, the average yield in Minnesota in 2021 was 2,900 pounds per acre, according to Minnesota Ag Statistics.

In 2021, Minnesota ranked second in green pea production with 34 percent of the nation’s production. The Gopher State trails only Washington State in pea production. Wisconsin, California, and Florida came in as three, four, and five in 2021.

Something to cheer about – the U.S. produced 155 million pounds of green peas last year – enough to supply half a pound of peas to every U.S. citizen!

The work of harvesting is arduous. At Far-Gaze Farms, Birdseye sent five harvesters to pick peas. The harvest machine gently pulls in the plants and opens the pods so the peas fall onto a conveyor and move to a large tank. The fragile little green peas are then conveyed to trucks and hauled to the plant.

Harvest went on day and night, with crews switching on and off duty.

Once the harvesters had left, it was time for the Peterson crew to apply fertilizer, complete tillage, and plant sweet corn.

It rained about an inch late on the night of July 7, but that slowed them down just a little.

It’s been so dry that moist soil conditions didn’t keep a manure applicator crew from applying fertilizer, or the Petersons from completing tillage and planting sweet corn.

About half a million gallons of hog manure were applied along with some turkey litter. A shallow tillage pass was made over the field.

Then, the Petersons planted sweet corn on July 10. They made one pass with the irrigator to help with germination. A week later, the sweet corn had already emerged and was growing well. Depending on how the season goes, Bruce thinks the sweet corn crop will be harvested in mid- to late September.

Rainfall across the region was spotty with hit-or-miss storms. Rainfall and heat in July could very well determine 2022 corn and soybean yields.

“We are fortunate because in the month of May we picked up almost 6 inches of rain,” he said. “It delayed planting, but we recharged the soil to some degree.

From June 1 to July 20, the farm received a total of 3.1 inches of rain. The Petersons were using all their field irrigator wells to place about two-thirds of an inch of rain on the crops per week where possible. Temperatures remained in the high 80s/low 90s, with nighttime lows in the 60s and 70s.

“We are maybe 20-25 percent tasseled,” Bruce said on July 18. “That will change (to completely tasseled) in the next week to 10 days. It would be nice if we could get a good soaking rain.”

The other big news at Far-Gaze Farms was the announcement of a U.S. House Ag Committee Farm Bill listening session at the farm. The meeting was scheduled for Monday, July 25. Congresswoman Angie Craig (D-Second District) serves on the House Committee on Agriculture, and Les Anderson serves as an agriculture liaison for Craig.

“I’ve known Les for quite a while, and he knows our farm site,” Bruce said. “He asked if we would be willing to hold this meeting.”

Ahead of the event, the Petersons planned to pull out the machinery from the shop, clean, set up parking, and help staff get everything set up.

“The reality is probably not a whole lot is going to happen on the farm bill until after the election, but things will ramp up after that,” he said. “In the meantime, it’s a way to give some input and educate some of these members of the ag committee.”

Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

SLAYTON, Minn. – One of the biggest differences between livestock farming and many other professions is the degree of commitment to the day-to…

SLAYTON, Minn. – Congratulations to Mallory Carlson and Ryan Vos who married on July 23!

NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Gardeners plan about 60 days for their Early June peas to be ready for harvest, but that’s not always the case for large-s…

SLAYTON, Minn. – Ryan Vos kept a close eye on the heat in late June.

Bruce Peterson inspects the field of garden peas ahead of harvest. Photo by Andrea Johnson.

Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.