It looks like harvest had just gotten started in northern Vermilion County before the rain put a halt to any field activity. As of Tuesday (9/22) this week, soils were still a bit wet for equipment traffic without risking some rutting and compaction issues. But drier conditions this week have likely allowed some in the region to restart their harvest in the past day or so. Most of the corn fields surveyed are at black layer and ready for harvest. I only found a couple localized areas in the northern half of the county with lodging issues, but stalk rots are still a concern, along with ear rots, which I found with moderate prevalence in a couple fields. A small percentage of the soybean fields have also reached harvestable maturity, although I did not see any soybean fields cut at the time of my survey. Most fields are still holding on to some leaves and are generally somewhere in the middle of beginning and full maturity.

This is our last scheduled crop report of the season. Good luck to all with harvest, and stay safe out there.