The Field Report

Trent Brandenburg is trying to get his field work done “before it rains”. Much of the area Trent farms is in “extreme drought” according to the Illinois Drought Monitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?IL map, which is updated every Thursday. The very dry soil may hamper fall tillage, but right now Trent wants to get ahead of the rain predicted for the coming weekend. The drought has affected soybean yields. With the unusual warmth delaying a killing frost, in a normal year more soybean pod fill would still occur this late in the season, but the severe drought this year stopped that.

The harvest has gone fast, because there have been no rain delays. There also have been no delays at the elevators waiting for drying time. The yields overall have been above last year, due to excellent growing conditions earlier in the season. A lot of fall rain and winter snow will be needed to replenish the soil moisture.