Both corn and soybeans that were planted April 8th and 9th have emerged. Planting and other field activities have halted due to several inches of previous rain over the weekend. We continue to catch cutworm moths.

Pockets of activity SW & NW of Champaign, as well as scattered in other areas. We missed the rain on 4/19 and that pushed growers to head to the field. Mainly soybean planting, but there has been some corn planted as well. Cooler Temps and a cold rain, will take its toll on corn emergence. Soybeans that were up, seemed to survive the light frost we had on 4/25. A warm up is on the way, and once the rain had moved out, this looks like a great opportunity to get rolling.

It’s raining again. Will take some heat and wind to dry out. Tillage and spraying in the area this week. Some fields planted. South of Bloomington has soybeans up. Farther north they’ve missed the rains and are further along. Wheat looks good in the area.

There is a lot of fieldwork going on including planting. It is very, important to be on the lookout and cautious when driving because of the high number of farm equipment moving about the countryside. We are hoping to miss the rain today (if possible) to have a wider planting window, which has not been possible the last several weeks due to rain. I have been finding 3 to 7 black cutworm moths as well as 1 armyworm moth in traps this past week.

Harvest continues to roll along. Some are done and others are about half done. Wheat planting is in full force. Some issues getting N containing P fertilizers like DAP since the river is so low has cause concern. Lots of lime and fall fertilizer going down but little fall tillage yet.

Yield reports are still variable across the region. That being said we are seeing what a timely rain does to yields in some areas. Even thought the amounts of rain were not “high”, a timely rain of a few tenths seems to be making quite a bit of difference in yields. 100-150 bu yield swings where those few tenths fell on corn and 20 bu on beans is not uncommon to hear.

To paint with a broad brush, most yield reports are in the 160-180 range on corn and the 45-60 range on beans. Most everyone reports a fields or fields higher and lower than these numbers.

However, I have got numerous reports of corn in the 60-80 bu range and beans in the 25-40 bu range as well.

I’ve seen one field of corn in Tazwell County with the end rows taken off. Moisture test in early planted corn in McLean County at 20%. Harvest is slow between Springfield and Jacksonville. Farmers are trying to be patient and allow field drying but it is slow. Many harvesting just enough to stay with drying capacity. Yields 10-30% off normal. Older farmers who have farmed through 1988 are amazed at yields on 10” of rain that mostly came in 2 storms. Input prices for 2024 look better. 2023 will be the first break even year for some younger farmers.