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| Illinois Corn Emergence Nearing Completion |
Virtually all of the Illinois corn and about three-quarters of the soybeans are in the ground as farmers made progress during a warm and mostly rain-free stretch of days last week.
The weekly USDA crop report says the average temperature statewide of 75.4 degrees was about 10 degrees warmer than normal. Rainfall totals averaging a little over 6-tenths of an inch was 4-tenths below normal and farmers had 4.2 days suitable for work in the fields. Some of that work included corn and soybean replanting in places where excess precipitation recently caused ponding.
USDA crop statistician Brad Schwab says the hot temperatures helped the state's soybeans hit the 73 percent planted mark, with 49 percent of the crop pushing out of the ground.
"The fact that the soils have dried down due to those temperatures that were well above normal have given farmers the opportunity to get out, or work toward finishing planting their soybeans," Schwab said. "Last week, (soybeans) were only at 47% (planted), and we advanced to 73% this week. That was really a good opportunity for them to get a lot of beans planted in just one week."
Soybean progress, both what's been planted and emerged, is slightly ahead of the five-year average. Corn also remains ahead of pace. Emergence advanced seven points last week to 94% and the height of the crop is nearing the one-foot mark compared to the five-year average of seven inches.
The numbers in western Illinois are behind the statewide averages. Corn in the region is 93% emerged with an average height of eight inches. Soybeans planted advanced to 66% and 38% of the crop is emerged.
The USDA rates the condition of the state's corn crop as 76% good or excellent. Only three percent of the state's farmland is considered short of topsoil moisture. That's not the case in western Illinois, where one-third of the fields are in the surplus moisture category and the other two-thirds have adequate moisture. |
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| 06 03 10 by Newsroom |
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