News

Illinois farmer loses 10 to 15 percent of corn to heavy rain

Heavy weekend rain has damaged Illinois crops and put an end to fieldwork until the soil dries out.

“I’d say we probably had 6-7 inches on our farm,” said Scott County, Illinois farmer Jeff Hurrelbrink, while assessing damage from his pick-up.  His corn has been in the ground about a week.

“Eighty percent of our corn is up where it washed down the hills and took some rows out,” Hurrelbrink told Brownfield Ag News Monday.  “A lot of silt covered up a lot of rows in low areas of fields.  We think we’ve probably lost 10-15 percent of our plants.”

Kim Curry, of Pike County, Illinois, says the rain caused a lot of erosion and damage to emerged corn in his area.

“All of our terraces were filled for a little over 24 hours, and the farmers I’ve talked to, most of their terraces were topped, so I think we’re going to be doing quite a bit of field repair and some replanting,” Curry told Brownfield Ag News Monday.  “On the flat fields I think they’ll be doing a lot of replanting where the water can’t get away; it’s still standing there.”

Curry had an inch of rain last Wednesday followed by another 5.5 inches Friday and Saturday.

AUDIO: Kim Curry (3 min. MP3)

AUDIO: Jeff Hurrelbrink (4 min. MP3)