Soybeans are in
But Illinois corn harvest, 93 percent complete, could stretch into next year
This McLean County farm field in Normal has just had its black soil turned for the winter. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
The soybeans are in.
That’s according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture Crop Progress report released this week, which found that, as of Sunday, the Illinois soybean harvest was 100 percent complete. Illinois joined Louisiana, Nebraska, and South Dakota with complete soybean harvests, as the average for the 18 states that produce 96 percent of the nation’s soybeans was 96 percent of the crop in.
Corn, however, lagged behind at 93 percent of the state harvest in, up from 88 percent the week before. Illinois corn was ahead of the national average for the 18 states that supply 94 percent of the nation’s corn, which stood at 89 percent through Sunday, but only Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas had completed their corn harvests.
There were concerns the corn harvest could stretch into the new year. The crop has run behind all year since heavy rains and flooding across the state slowed the spring planting season. Fall rains and early snow have produced wet crops, with harvested corn needing to be dried — a problem compounded by propane shortages in some areas due to the high demand.
Bill Leigh, a Marshall County farmer who is also president of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, told FarmWeekNow.com, “I have friends in North Dakota who say they’re just going to leave it out until March. I don’t know the acreage involved in that, but the official (crop production) numbers are going to be much later than normal.”
The USDA is slated to release its latest Crop Production estimates on Tuesday ahead of final figures scheduled for January, but even those may not turn out to be “final” as they may need to be readjusted.
“I’d say we’ve still got 10 to 15 percent of crops left in my area,” Glenn Ginder, a Peotone farmer and president of the Will County Farm Bureau, told FarmWeekNow in the same story, published Thursday. “Some of these fields won’t get done this year. It’s just so wet, and we just got snow. Some farmers will be doing two crops in one year” in 2020.