Crops still in the field

‘The longer we go, the more risk we have,’ says one farmer, with a fifth of state corn unharvested

A DeKalb County farm lies covered in snow with Northern Illinois University in the distance. (Flickr)

By Ted Cox

An estimated 20 percent of the Illinois corn crop is still unharvested, according to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service released its latest weekly Crop Progress report Monday afternoon. It found just 80 percent of the Illinois corn crop harvested, along with 92 percent of the Illinois soybean crop.

Nationally, soybeans finally caught up with the pace of last year’s harvest, with 91 percent of the crop in as of the week ending Sunday, same as last year in the 18 states that make up the bulk of the U.S. soybean yield, but that was still off the five-year average of 98 percent through this time of year. In Illinois, the 92 percent of harvest completed was up from 87 percent the week before, but behind the 96 percent recorded last year at this time as well as the five-year average of 98 percent.

With farmers getting their soybeans in ahead of the corn, corn lagged behind. The 80 percent figure recorded Sunday was up from 71 percent the week before, but well behind the almost total corn harvest completed at this time last year, 99 percent, as well as the five-year average of 97 percent.

Nationally, just 76 percent of the U.S. corn crop had been harvested through Sunday, up from 66 percent the week before, but well behind the 89 percent that had been harvested at this point last year, as well as the five-year average of 92 percent.

The state’s 2019 farm season has been troubled by harsh, unpredictable weather at both ends. Heavy rains and flooding across the state delayed spring planting. Farmers struggled to catch up over the summer and into the fall, but an early freeze and unusually heavy early season snow have now slowed the harvest as well.

Mature crops are usually able to withstand a freeze, but farmers warned additional delays could have consequences.

“I’ve done this 44 years, and Mother Nature has humbled me every year,” said Steve Pitstick, who farms near Maple Park west of Chicago. According to a story published Sunday by FarmWeekNow.com, Pitstick completed the soybean harvest before the snow hit, “but reported a large amount of crops left in fields in his area.” He told the Agricultural Bankers Conference in Dallas that a quarter of his fields in DeKalb and Boone counties had to be categorized as prevented plant this season.

“There’s a lot of corn left to do,” said Matt Scholl, a Polo farmer who also serves as ag loan officer at Milledgeville State Bank in Carroll County. “Farmers are frustrated with wet corn and the slow harvest,” he added. “So far, everything is still standing pretty good. But, the longer we go, the more risk we have.”

According to FarmWeekNow, Pitstick and Scholl attended the Dallas bankers’ conference in part “to make sure lenders are aware of the challenges unfolding in farm country.”

The late harvest, with wet corn requiring drying, contributed to a propane shortage in parts of the Midwest.