News

Good days allow harvest progress in Illinois

Warm, dry weather allowed Illinois farmers ample harvest time this past week.  Corn harvest advanced 16 percentage points from the previous week and soybean harvest was 26 percentage points farther along.

If the weather stays nice, Scott County farmer Jeff Schone won’t have much left of his harvest.

“We’re just about to finish soybeans, but we’re in corn today because of little spotty showers coming through,” Schone told Brownfield Ag News Monday.  “We need probably three or four more days and we’ll have the corn.”

Statewide, the Illinois corn harvest is 59 percent complete, 12 percentage points behind last year and 13 percentage points behind the 5-year average. Corn’s excellent – 83 percent of the crop is good to excellent. Schone’s yield reflects that.

“The corn we’ve probably run anywhere from 160 to I think the highest we’ve done for the whole farm average has been running around 230,” he said, “so I think we’ll still average over 200 for everything.”

Schone’s corn moisture is down to about 16 to 16.5 percent.

The Illinois soybean harvest is 63 percent complete, 20 percentage points behind last year and 14 percentage points behind average. The soybean crop is 80 percent good to excellent.  Schone’s soybean yield in Scott County is expected to average 55 bushels to the acre.

Sorghum harvest is 57 percent complete. Topsoil moisture 95 percent adequate to surplus.

AUDIO: Jeff Schone (4 min. MP3)