The tropical storm blessed most of southern Illinois with somewhere between a quarter or even over an inch of rain, which is especially helpful to the double crop beans still filling their top pods. First crop soybean fields are yellowing but still a ways off from physiological maturity for the most part. Corn is still drying down; most is still not quite to black layer. Lots of silage has been cut in the past couple of weeks. Still not much in the way of harvest occurring in southern Illinois; I’ve only seen one corn field shelled and heard of one soybean field being cut.

We missed the rains over the weekend, and the heat is starting to show stress in fields. Soybean fields are showing their stressed areas by maturing quicker than the rest of the field. Corn is moving along quickly, dropping 1.5 -2 a day in moisture. This will probably result in a little drop in TW as we reach black layer.

Harvest has begun in select fields in northern Champaign County. A number of corn fields have been “opened up”, and I saw a couple soybean fields where harvest had also started. However, there are still plenty of corn and beans in the county holding on to some green leaves, but the warm, dry weather has been moving things along quickly. Most corn fields surveyed were at or within a few days of R6 (physiological maturity; black layer), although I did find a couple fields still at mid-R5 (dent). Soybeans ranged from late R6 (full seed) through R8 (full maturity) with most falling in the R7 (beginning maturity) range. As is the case in much of the state that didn’t get appreciable rain out of the remnants of last week’s Hurricane (then Tropical Storm) Francine, soil conditions are getting dry in northern Champaign County.

Some fields are ready for harvest while others still have a ways to go. Green soybeans and harvested soybeans across the road from each other. Harvesting in McLean and Woodford Counties.

Some producers across Logan, Menard, and Sangamon counties have begun harvesting their crops. So far, the harvest has been predominantly of the earlier-planted corn, with earlier-planted soybeans not far behind. A majority of the corn and soybeans across the area still need some time to dry out before harvest, but expect more producers starting in the next couple of weeks.

Corn is being harvested in my area, since a large wet milling corn processor announced no discounts for wet corn, only shrinkage to be applied. The only soybeans not turning yellow and reaching maturity are the double-crop fields.