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Illinois Corn Harvest Nearing the End of the Line
Farmers in Illinois had another strong corn harvest week and are nearing the end of that work.

The USDA's weekly crop progress report says the state's corn harvest is 80 percent finished, a gain of 14 percent in the past week. The harvest in Western Illinois is a little behind the state average at 77 percent complete. The central and southwest districts lead the state with 93 percent of their corn out of the fields.

Margie Whitecotton, agricultural statistician with the USDA, says a warm and dry week helped boost the numbers.

"Temperatures last week averaged nearly 5.6 degrees above normal, making for ideal drying conditions for the state's unharvested corn acreage.


The state's winter wheat crop is 86 percent emerged, compared to 64 percent the previous week and on pace with the five-year average. Topsoil moisture came in at four percent short, 92 percent adequate, and four percent surplus, which provided excellent growing conditions for the soft red winter wheat crop."

The USDA says some producers are delaying the corn harvest to allow fields to dry down more. Farmers last week had 5.5 days suitable for fieldwork. The average temperature in Western Illinois was 50.9, 6.6 degrees above normal.

The .23 inches of rain that fell was more than a third of an inch below the norm for this time of year. Statewide, the average rainfall last week was nearly a half an inch below normal.
11 14 08 by Newsroom
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