Michiana Harvest Is Season 'Defined by Drought'
Published: Friday, October 31, 2025
Farming is always a gamble. However, in 2025, the risks felt more significant than usual.
Across northern Indiana and southern Michigan, producers faced a season defined by drought, disease pressure, and dramatic yield swings. Four inches of rain fell in LaPorte County in August; zero, just 40 miles east. Some fields hit 300 bushels per acre. Others dropped below 100. Farmers faced uncertainty about marketing and storage decisions due to the delay in USDA reports.
The affected region runs roughly from LaPorte County east to the Ohio line, with pockets into southern Michigan. From seed corn operations to no-till bean fields, the harvest told a story of extremes.
Drought Took Center Stage
Greg Kneubuhler of G & K Concepts, headquartered in Harlan and serving northeastern Indiana, southern Michigan and northwestern Ohio, summed up the season in one word: drought.
"Some places didn't get measurable rain after July," he said. "That hurt yields a lot. You could drive five miles and see a tremendous difference."
Kevin Stoy of Stoy Farms near Ashley, who works land across seven counties, saw the same thing. "We suffer from lake effect," he said. "When you have six weeks without rain in August and September, beans suffer more than corn."
He also mentioned weaker sunlight, likely from Canadian wildfire smoke, which slowed photosynthesis and plant growth.
Matt Shafer of Shafer Farms in southern LaPorte County had a different experience.
"We got 4 inches of rain in one week in August," he said. "That helped our soybeans."
His irrigated fields performed well, and even the dryland beans exceeded expectations.
While some crops suffered due to the drought, one crop benefited from favorable timing.
Soybeans Surprised Many
In much of northern Indiana, soybeans were the unexpected winners. Brent Laidig of G & K Concepts, who works in St. Joseph, Marshall and Elkhart counties, said he saw some of the best soybean yields ever.
"You heard a lot of beans in the 60s and 70s," he said. "Even some higher than that."
Shafer agreed.
"We had a lot of beans above 80 bushels per acre," he said. "The rain came at the right time, and the beans filled out well."
But in northeastern Indiana, the story was different. Kneubuhler said beans were "less than expected," especially in dry areas or places with poor soil. Stoy was blunt: "We cannot raise beans to save our lives." He said corn consistently outperforms beans on his ground, and he's seen that pattern for 25 years.
"It's not just farming practices," Stoy said. It's a deeper problem with how the seed companies are handling beans. They're not asking the right questions."
Corn was mixed, but not disastrous
Corn yields were all over the map. "Corn was probably less than expected," Kneubuhler said. "But there were pockets of 250s and 260s." Disease pressure was high, and farmers who used fungicide saw better results.
Shafer expected his worst corn crop in a decade but was surprised.
"We had spots hitting 300 on the yield monitor and others dropping to 100," he said. "It was all over the place."
Stoy's corn was "above budget, a little below last year." But he couldn't find a pattern.
"Some fields should have done great and didn't, he said. Others surprised us."
Mark Roemke, who farms around Woodburn and Harlan in eastern Allen County, was happy with his corn.
"It's better than what we expected," he said. "We're seeing 230 bushels in our better fields and 200 in the poorer ones. I'm tickled to see that."
Roemke farms about 1,850 acres, split evenly between corn and beans.
"Our beans are probably averaging in the low 60s," he said. "Before the rain came, I told the boys we'd be lucky to get 50–55. But we had some fields in the 50s and a lot in the high 60s. That's how I'm coming up with around 62."
Soil Health, Smart farming Helped
Joe Nester of Nester Ag, based in Bryan, Ohio, serves farms across the Tri-State area. He's a long-time agronomist and a strong advocate for no-till farming and cover crop systems.
"The no-till guys using cover crops are yielding five to 10 bushels better," he said. "That's just water-holding capacity."
Roemke echoed that firsthand.
"We're totally no-till," he said. "We plant into green cover crops every spring. That means the cover crop is still alive when we plant. Then we spray it and kill it off." He said the roots go down three to four feet and help hold moisture.
"It also keeps the sun from baking the ground and drying it out."
Still, the best farming practices couldn't control the weather.
"It's not science—it's where the cloud sat," Shafer said. "We saw 40-bushel swings from one end of a field to the other."
Laidig added context: "It's not even county-level anymore. You can pinpoint it to 1,000 acres or fewer. Maybe even a few hundred. These microclimate differences usually come from changes in soil type, rain shadows, lake-effect patterns and underground tile drainage."
USDA Reports Came Late
Kneubuhler said farmers had a tough time this year because USDA reports were delayed and didn't match what was happening in the fields. The August yield forecast came out during a government shutdown. Many agronomists thought it was too optimistic.
"The market has to wait on data to decide," Kneubuhler said. "We probably won't know final yield numbers until the January report."
Without accurate numbers, farmers struggled to plan storage and marketing. Basis levels fluctuated, and some producers held back grain longer than usual.
"If you dump it all in the same bucket and shake it out, the overall is not as good as we're led to believe," Kneubuhler said. "Some farmers are quite pleased. Others are frustrated."
Storage, Timing Became a Challenge
Shafer and Stoy both slowed harvest to make room in their bins.
"We delivered a lot early," Stoy said. "Never deliver corn when more than two others are doing the same."
Shafer said bin space was a real issue.
"We've got to make a little room for what we've got left out there standing," he said. "It's a good problem to have, but it's still a logistical one."
Smart Choices Made a Difference
Stoy made a big decision in the spring. "We switched 1,000 acres from beans to corn," he said. "It was the right thing to do."
Nester emphasized crop rotation. "Beans that follow corn do better than beans following beans," he said. "That's a disease challenge."
Roemke said he's focused on long-term soil health.
"We've seen our organic matter come up by planting cover crops," he said. "It's not just about this year—it's about the long game."
Looking Ahead
Farming remains a high-risk, high-investment business. In Indiana, the average cost to grow an acre of corn now exceeds $900. "You've got to do everything you can right," Nester said.
Laidig agreed.
"It's not about comparing yields," he said. "It's about ROI—return on investment. Every operation is different."
And in a year full of drought, disease and delayed data, farmers learned once again that success isn't just about numbers. It's about timing, resilience and knowing when to pivot.
As Kneubuhler put it, "That's farming. That's the game."
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