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Rain slows Illinois planting after record start

Since setting records for the pace of corn planting in the Midwest, there are growers who’ve had to proceed with interruptions from frequent rain storms. Southern Illinois grower Tim Scates is looking at corn that’s already almost knee-high, but progress on soybean planting is uneven.

“We’ve had a pretty good growing season, but we’ve had some significant rainfall that has caused some flooding and some ponding in various fields,” Scates told Brownfield from his pickup parked on Carmi, Illinois’s main thoroughfare.

Scates and the twelve family members he farms with, are making progress, but there’s been more than the usual replanting.

“We probably have to do a little [replanting] each year, but this was more substantial just because we did have three inches of rain one weekend,” he said.

The Scates grow 15,000 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat.

AUDIO: Tim Scates (2 min. MP3)