WASHBURN -- Harvest could be done by a holiday, but farmers probably will be eating turkey instead of candy by the time the last rows of corn are out.

As long as Mother Nature doesn't play any more tricks on farmers this fall -- like turning cornfields into lakes -- it's a safe bet combines will be rolling on Halloween. Monday's weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture Crops and Weather Report said 37 percent of the state's corn crop is still in fields, which is five points behind the five-year average.

Dry weather last week allowed producers to get back into the fields after almost a week of downtime. Local elevator officials expect the final push to pluck fields clean this week and next, which should mean a peaceful Thanksgiving at home.

With indoor commercial storage space hard to come by, Iowa's yellow mountains are growing larger by the day as elevators find a temporary home for 14 million acres of corn. At Heartland Co-op's Washburn location, semis were lined up seven deep Monday afternoon, waiting to unload at its covered bunker.

Dean Ohrt, Heartland's grain origination manager for the eastern half of the state, isn't worried that high-priced corn will be sitting outside, uncovered. Corn yields are good, but they're not nearly as bountiful locally as the government predicted, and recent rains helped string out harvest enough to allow elevators to catch up on work and ship out grain they normally wouldn't have time to do.

"The storage crunch isn't as severe as thought. Yields are down a little and there was more seed acres," Ohrt said, helping Washburn employees fill their 1-million-bushel covered bunker. It was about one-third full as of Monday.

The federal government predicted Iowans would harvest a record 2.5 billion bushels of corn. Northeast Iowa was supposed to be the garden spot, averaging 201 bushels per acre. However, heavy late-season rains, high winds in July and a hot pollination period clipped yields. Area farmers and elevators say yields are averaging about 170 to 190 bushels per acre.

Heartland Co-op, based in West Des Moines, merged with Central Counties Cooperative on July 1, which was based in Reinbeck. The new company has about 60 million bushels of permanent storage and 15 million of temporary storage (covered bunkers) at 41 locations statewide.

Earlier this year, Ohrt wasn't sure that would be enough. As harvest continues, that's no longer an issue. Even truck and rail availability is good to move product to processors, which is normally a rarity this time of year, he said.

"We pretty well planned to hold the crop. If anything, the harvest is under our original projections," Ohrt said.

Wil Manweiler, grain department manager at the Dunkerton Co-op, said their new 1.6-million-bushel covered bunker should be filled by Wednesday. The co-op also has 2.6 million bushels of bin space, with more than 100,000 bushels to spare.

With cash corn at $3.50 per bushel and soybeans at $9.32, Manweiler said protecting grain is imperative. Previously, the co-op had uncovered piles.

"It (storage) will be tight, but not too bad. This last week things already started to slow a bit with (farmers) every day saying they were done," Manweiler said.

Area soybean fields are pretty much bare, and yields range from 40 to 55 bushels per acre, officials said.

The report indicates 9 percent of area soybeans still need to be combined compared to 12 percent statewide. The normal is 13 percent left at this time of year.

If things go well for Tom Greiner -- and he could use some good luck -- the Cedar Falls farmer hopes to finish up harvest by early next week. Not only has wet weather kept him from the fields, but a fire has as well.

Greiner's 2007 Case-IH combine went up in flames last Tuesday causing a temporary work stoppage. No one was injured. Fire experts will inspect the machine this week to determine a cause, he said.

Back at it now with a rented machine, Greiner is hoping to get the remaining crop out before high winds or rain damage what's left.

"We should get close to being done this week," Greiner said. "Right now corn is standing good, but if we get a good breeze … . Rain has a rotting effect and speeds along that process."

Contact Matthew Wilde at (319) 291-1579 or matt.wilde@wcfcourier.com.