Many Sequoyah County farmers are harvesting their soybeans this week, despite temperamental and wet weather, which caused muddy fields and a bit of Asian soybean rust.

The county has hundreds of acres of soybeans, which are in the process of being harvested or are awaiting harvest this week in Sequoyah County, while farmers hope rain holds off so they can get in their fields.

Mary Ann Cosner, whose husband, Tom, was harvesting beans on Monday, said the wet weather has slowed their harvest some, but not too much.

“We couldn’t get into the fields because of rain, but we are combining today,” Cosner said Monday. “Not all of it (soybean crop) is ready because the pods have not dried out.”

Jody Sloan of Vian, who farms in the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge and other areas, said he has about 420 acres of soybeans, and was waiting Tuesday for the wind and sunshine to dry the dew off his soybean crop so he could begin harvesting.

“We’re really not that late,” Sloan said. “We’ve been delayed only a little bit.”

He explained that soybeans come in thousands of varieties — some mature quickly, others more slowly.

“Most farmers plant several varieties,” he explained, “to counteract the risk.”

Some varieties are not ready to harvest yet, he added, while another county farmer finished his harvest three weeks ago. Sloan said, on a good day, he can get 35 to 40 acres of soybeans harvested. The price of soybeans is good, at $9.50 a bushel at Sloan’s last check, because soybeans are used in many ways, from baby formula to fuel.

But Sloan said the wet weather, and a southern wind, have caused another problem for some county soybean farmers. It’s called Asian soybean rust, a fungus which can destroy a soybean crop. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, three fields in Sequoyah County were found to have the fungi earlier this month, and were sprayed to fight the fungus.

“It’s a problem in the south,” Sloan explained, and was probably brought in by southern winds.

Sloan said farmers have had more trouble getting in their corn crops this year than they have had with soybeans. He has 170 acres of corn.

Gerald and Doris Trotter of Vian are still drying their corn, even though it’s in the grain bin.

“I just turned on the fans,” Doris Trotter said Tuesday morning.

Trotter said she and her husband don’t expect any problems harvesting soybeans.

“They are a different variety,” she said. “We have (what is called) Group 5. They don’t mature until late October. We don’t anticipate any problems, if none of the machinery breaks down.”

The Trotter’s 450 acres of corn was a little harder to bring in.

“We had that bad storm (in late summer),” Trotter said. “It laid down one whole field. We had trouble getting that out, but we did it.”

Trotter said farmers “…don’t need a big rain right now.

“The wind is helping dry the crops,” she said, “and the corn is in the storage bin and getting dried.

“But don’t count your money till you get it in the bins. Then we can say thanks that the Lord let us make a crop.”

Farmers in the northern states are not faring as well. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports rain in the northern states has slowed the corn and soybean harvest to the slowest since records began in 1985, and has delayed the planting of the winter wheat.