Harvest is underway in southern Vermilion County. With the hot, dry weather we’ve had, most farmers seem to be focusing on soybeans, likely in hopes of minimizing shatter and header losses. I did see a number of cornfields harvested, but those were mostly seed corn fields and only a couple of production fields. Of the corn still standing, the majority is at R6, or “black layer,” but with some green remaining in the leaves of the upper canopy. I did find a couple of fields still in early R5, or “dent,” yet to reach maturity, but those were few and far between.

As has been the story for much of the region, ear size and tip fill have been relatively variable field to field, with some showing full ears and others an inch or more of bare cob. Soybean fields still standing were generally in the R7, or “beginning maturity,” to R8, or “full maturity,” stages, with a few stragglers still in late R6, or “full seed.”