We are still in need of a CropWatcher for this district. Call 773-234-9004 or email crystal.reed@lee.net if you are interested in volunteering. Thank you!
What a year it has been — probably the most trying year we have ever seen. For sure it was the biggest struggle to get a crop planted we have ever witnessed. Nonstop rains from April through July, then the faucet completely shut off on Aug. 4. Yields have reflected our struggles planting wit…
Harvest continues here between the rains. We are making pretty good progress here. Some guys have finished up, but quite a few of us still have a ways to go. A lot of crop left out here in areas, mostly corn but some beans are still left. Ground conditions are not ideal but not cutting ruts …
Harvest is still rolling on here in Crawford County. A few guys have wrapped up, but most are still running. Still a few beans left out and about but mostly a lot of late corn still standing. Weather seems to be taking a turn for the worse now that we are nearing November. It has drizzled he…
Is our nice, dry fall over? We have been pretty fortunate weather-wise for the last several weeks, getting some rain to keep fire hazards low. The last rain we had a couple weeks ago we had almost 3 inches, and we just had another 2-3 inches of rain this past weekend. It’s pretty wet now, bu…
Harvest continues to roll on here in Crawford County. As we push further into soybean harvest, we are getting into the later-planted and replanted beans. With that, yields dip lower and lower. Planting date alone shaved enough yield off we really didn’t need the drought to go along with it. …
Dry beans and wet corn. As we roll into the third week of harvest, the beans have gotten back down into single-digit moisture again, however, corn isn’t nearly as dry. Hand tested our first-planted corn a few days ago expecting 18-20% moisture and was shocked when it was 29%. I’ve talked to …
We finally had some substantial rain last weekend with 2.7 to 3.8 inches across our farms. It’s a shame it was about two weeks too late for the majority of crops. It will really help the late corn in the area and a handful of full-maturity late beans. Harvest has pretty well started full swi…
Harvest has started for several guys around here in the last week. I’ve heard a few really good yields out of some April-planted beans and corn, but sadly there isn’t much of that around here. Mostly it was mid-May through early July on planting dates. The yield reports I’ve been hearing fro…
From cool and dry to hot and dry, going on day 42 without any precipitation. This crop has really gone fast in the last week, and I suspect this week of 90-plus degrees will rapidly speed that pace up. Starting to see a few fields harvested around here, but I’m guessing by week’s end there w…
Harvest is right around the corner. Thirty-four days of no precipitation has taken its toll. Weathermen say the majority of the state plus Indiana and Ohio don’t have a chance of rain in sight. Last year we had almost the exact same weather — last rain was Aug. 3 and didn’t break until the e…
Nothing new here to report really since last week. To say this crop is finishing rough would be an understatement. I along with many others, I’m sure, visited the Farm Progress Show this week. I’m sure everyone noticed how disease has prematurely killed the crop in the heart of the state. Th…
Watching your crops suffer is a hard thing to do. Watching the water shut off at the end after a record wet spring is even tougher. We had a few fields get some light showers on them early last week in the amount of one- to four-tenths — enough to create some hope that we might get some more…
Have we used up our rain quota for the year? For the first time all year we are hurting for rain. I’ve been worried about this happening after one of the wettest springs on record. Earlier corn is trying to fill ears; later corn is trying to pollinate. Not an ideal time for the rain to shut …
I think we have gone more than a week without a rain for the first time in more than a month. We have been catching up on spraying and fungicide work. This crop looks pretty good from the road, but I encourage guys to get out and walk fields. This pollination issue everyone has been talking …
The cool weather we have enjoyed here for the last half of the week had been really welcomed. We were able to get some fungicide and foliar feeds on some of the first-planted beans this week between some rain showers. A couple small chances at the beginning of this week, but other than that …
Still raining here in southeast Illinois. I managed to get some more beans posted this week between the rain showers but still have some left to post. Early beans look pretty good and need a fungicide pass in the next few days if I can get across the ground. Both early beans and corn (mid-Ma…
The monsoonal season continues. I’ve lost track of how many inches we have had in the last couple weeks, but I believe we are at or nearly at our normal rainfall amount for the year. Everyone is falling behind on spraying, and some didn’t get their double-crop beans planted behind the wheat.…
Another week of spraying beans and planting beans here. We spent the bigger part of the week replanting beans and doing some dirt work repairing damage from the 4-plus inches of rain we had a few weeks ago. Rains since that event have been spotty, but we did luck out and get a good widesprea…
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. Busy around here posting corn and beans. A few guys are still dealing with down wheat, but I suspect most should wrap up harvest soon. We could use some rain now that everything is up out of the ground. The heat we have been having is great for …
Busy week here wrapping up planting and replanting. I was able to start back in the field on June 21 and have been running hard ever since. We finished corn replanting on Wednesday June 25 and should finish up beans today June 27. To say it’s been hot would be an understatement. However, it’…
The summer heat showed up right on time for wheat harvest. As bad as I despise the heat we need it in a bad way. This soil is rotten and the crops that are up have been suffering. Things will start to look better before long, but looks can be deceiving. I’ve driven across a lot of our county…
Not much to report on since last week. No field work has been done since June 4. A few rains have fell this week totaling anywhere from three-tenths to an inch and a half. Added bonus of some rain chances added to the forecast Monday and Tuesday of this week along with the bigger chance on W…
Sounding like a broken record here, but it seems like this is the pattern we are stuck in. Dried out enough to get some running in ahead of last Wednesday night’s rains. Think we had four to five days of running in, was able to get some corn replanted and finished up corn planting in general…
We managed to get a few days of field work in this week after six-tenths of rain. It’s been a struggle finding ground dry enough this year. The good news is that rain saved some corn and beans we had really struggling. Still have some replanting to do and a pretty fair amount of first planti…
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