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| Wet Conditions Keep Corn Harvest at Bay |
The harvest in Illinois was once again hampered by less than ideal weather conditions as another rainy week hit the state.
The soybean harvest has been completed in many areas, but the corn harvest is still being hindered by high moisture content and elevators are having trouble keeping up with the amount of grain.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report shows topsoil moisture is rated at 43 percent adequate and 57 percent surplus. Sixty percent of the corn crop is harvested, but is still well behind the five year average of 98 percent. The Soybean harvest was reported as 95 percent complete, just behind the five year average of 99 percent.
Director of the Illinois Field Office of the USDA National Ag Statistic Service Brad Schwab says even through harvest progress slowed last week, the news was not all bad.
"There are good yields still standing out in the fields, and that gives farmers some optimism to just get out there and get it harvested."
Farmers only had 2.4 days suitable for fieldwork last week statewide, while wet conditions in the western crop reporting district left only 1.1 days in the fields, with almost 2.5 inches of precipitation.
The corn crop in the western district is 47-percent harvested and soybeans are 94-percent out of the fields. Last year at this time corn was 94 percent harvested and soybeans well all out of the fields.
Schwab says at the rate things are drying down in some fields, they may just have to wait until it freezes seeing as how the number of daylight hours is on the way down. |
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| 11 28 09 by Newsroom |
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