Corn Harvest Moving Ahead in Illinois

Combines continue to move fast and furious throughout most of Illinois as corn moisture continues to decline.

Kyle Brase, a farmer from Edwardsville (Madison County), reported corn moisture in his area was anywhere from dry corn up to 22 percent. Most varieties planted between April 6-18 are consistently in the 15 to 18 percent moisture range, he noted.

“Harvest is going really well so far,” Brase told FarmWeekNow.com. “The area is probably 20 to 25 percent done with corn.”

In southeast Illinois, Jeff Scates said corn harvest is about 40 percent complete near his family’s farm in Shawneetown. He said some farmers are pushing hard to harvest corn to avoid the potential of worsening ear rot, or Diplodia, issues, particularly with more rain in the forecast next week. Other farmers focused on picking corn that had any type of stalk quality or standability issues.

“There’s been some ear rot,” Scates said. “There have been some cases I’ve heard of people being docked at the elevator. Test weights definitely are on the light side this year.”

Scates estimates corn and soybean yields are down in his area from the three-year averages by 10 to 20 percent due in part to June heat and dryness, a lack of sunshine/excessive rain in July and August, and the invasion of southern rust and other disease issues.

From May 1 to Sept. 12, nearly 15,000 daily records for the warmest nighttime lows were set in the U.S., according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In Illinois, temperatures have been warmer than average in every month so far this year except May. Last month was the 15th warmest August on record, according to Jim Angel, state climatologist with the Illinois State Water Survey.

Brase said corn yields in his area are above average, but few beans have been cut.

“I don’t think we’ll beat our 2014 (record) yields (for corn), but they’ll be really good,” Brase said.

Eric Schmidt, of EJS Weather, told the RFD Radio Network that he expects rain next week, but after that, like it is now.

“The good news is long-range models indicate that as we head into early October there could be a pretty extended period of warmer and dry weather again,” he noted.

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center recently forecast an increased chance of above-normal temperatures in Illinois through the rest of 2016.