News

Winter wheat starts strong for Illinois farmer

A southern Illinois farmer says dry conditions were favorable for winter wheat planting this year.

Dean Campbell in Randolph County tells Brownfield they sowed wheat through a 6-week dry spell, finishing on October 25^th.  

“We were in a situation like the old saying ‘you sow it in the dust and the bins will bust, you sow it in the mud it’ll be a dud’. Well, we sowed everything in the dust.”

Campbell says he is happy with condition at this stage.

“We have excellent stands, it is looking great. We got a few showers on it since it was planted and it’s really looking good at this stage, but we are a long ways away from the combine.”

USDA’s latest crop progress and condition report shows 34% of Illinois winter wheat is in good to excellent condition, with 53% considered fair.

Campbell says their double crop soybeans took a hit from the dry fall.   

“We had a lot of pod abortions and a lot of seed abortions, so our bean crop was probably about 10% overall under average. The later maturing ones really suffered in that hot, dry timeframe.”

But he says their corn yields were 10-15% above average this year.

Campbell serves as secretary on the Illinois Wheat Association Board.