SD--Crops-Freeze

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Freezing temperatures across much of South Dakota are marking the end of the 2009 growing season, leaving many farmers with crops that haven\'t reached full maturity because of the cool, wet summer.

Temperatures in many parts of South Dakota dropped into hard-freeze territory and stayed low for hours early Friday.

It was 21 degrees in Brookings, 22 in Aberdeen, Watertown and Custer, 23 in Huron and Madison, according to the National Weather Service. Both Sioux Falls and Rapid City dropped to 25.

Temperatures were forecast to drop even lower overnight into Saturday, with lows from around 10 above in the west to the mid-20s in the southeast. The weather service said lows could drop to around zero in parts of the Black Hills.

Many farmers got their seed in the ground on time this spring, but the ground was so dry that the seed missed its jump start on growth, Bob Hall, a South Dakota State University extension agronomist, said Friday.

\"Nothing happened for a while until we got some spring, got some moisture and then it germinated and started,\" Hall said.

This week\'s U.S. Department of Agriculture crop report rates South Dakota\'s corn as 57 percent mature, compared to 71 percent last year and 78 percent for the five-year average. Just 58 percent of the state\'s soybean crop is listed as mature, far behind last year\'s number and the five-year average, both 78 percent.

South Dakota\'s 2009 corn harvest was estimated at only 2 percent complete, compared to a five-year average of 11 percent. Sixteen percent of the soybeans were harvested, while the five-year average is 30 percent, according to the crop report.

Yields will be down in some areas, and there probably will be some lightweight crops, according to Hall. He said he wouldn\'t be surprised to see more corn harvested for silage.

It\'s tough to predict statewide yields at this point because of the varied conditions across the state and different varieties of seed used, Hall said. Farmers who picked a variety of corn that aims to stretch maturity might come up short in their yields, he said.

About 78 percent of the state\'s winter wheat crop has been seeded, and 43 percent of it has emerged. The numbers are nearly in line with five-year averages.

Winter wheat is becoming more of a crop of interest in the state, but the slow maturation of this year\'s soybean crop is putting additional pressures on some planters.

\"In some places, farmers might be trying to get their soybeans out so they can get their winter wheat planted,\" Hall said.