Farmers in northeast Wisconsin have one eye on the present and the other on the future as the harvest season picks up the pace.

According to the USDA’s Crop Progress and Condition Report, Wisconsin farmers had over six days suitable for fieldwork last week, setting the stage for good harvest conditions for apples, corn silage, and remaining vegetables. As a result, the corn silage harvest is about 66 percent complete, the soybean harvest is six percent complete, and the corn for grain harvest is about four percent complete. The corn and soybean conditions are both rated at around 80 percent good to excellent, and another week of good weather should help farmers catch up to last year’s pace. As quickly as crops are coming off, some farmers are putting others back into the ground. The winter wheat crop is 43 percent seeded, which is a day off from last year’s progress.

In some fields, some farmers like Paul Cornette of Cornette Dairy in Luxemburg are planting cover crops to prepare for future harvests. In one field, Cornette is showcasing for Tuesday’s Peninsula Pride Farms Conservation Conversation, he is planting 10 different species of plants, which could yield sunflowers in the middle of fall. While he is not entirely sure what will grow and what will not in his cover crop mixture, he is confident that it will provide significant benefits to the soil.

The field, which is being transitioned from alfalfa to corn, is where the Peninsula Pride Farms Conservation Conversation will take place at 5 p.m. You can find more details below.