Harvest so far has been about as awful as the new Bob Dylan Christmas album.

Typically USDA's November yield forecasts increase, but this is not a typical year, as freezing weather has dinged yields and caused major crop quality problems.

A colleague of mine sent me some snapshots of an Iowa farm that had seven inches of snow last Saturday. Northern Kansas had over 10 inches of snow.

The white stuff melted, but it's a nasty example of what a difficult harvest it has been throughout most of the Corn Belt.

We still see green corn here in Central Illinois, and it's nearly November!

Iowa farmer Mark Jackson also sent some snowy pics. "We combined these beans (below) three days later on Oct 13 in a six hour window of opportunity, at 14% moisture, before receiving yet another drizzly system of showers," he says. "The yields have been exceptional on our no-till bean crop this fall though we are easily two weeks behind schedule. Corn has its own concerns, with moistures stable in the low to mid 20%.

Tom Waters, who farms near Orrick, Mo., says, "We have seen some pretty moldy corn in our area.  So far, I haven't seen it in any of my fields. I'm keeping my fingers crossed."

Waters says yields have been good, but they are probably 45 days behind normal schedule. "I am sure recent rains are going to be working on the test weights," he adds. "We have had killing frosts that caught some of the late planted beans."

Farmers want to know why prices aren't reflecting hard times at harvest.

"Here in the Mississippi Delta, a large number of bean and rice acres will never be harvested due to rain and flooded fields," says Bryan Palmer. "I speak to a number of people throughout the U.S. each day and have gathered that Midwest corn and beans will be off as well."

Late planted rice in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri already shows "blanks" in the rice heads. North of Highway 82, rice has started to spout in the field, says Palmer.

"A number of bankers I have talked with are saying combines will not harvest soybeans due to the damages from rain," he adds. "Soybeans have started to sprout in the fields and damage, two weeks ago, was in the 50% to 70% range.

"Why are the markets not reflecting these facts? If I can gather this information surely the big money people already know what's out here."