Dry Weather Hastens Harvest

September in central Illinois was one-to-three-inches short of average rainfall. Trent Brandenburg took full advantage of the natural drydown and good field conditions to get his crops from the field to the bin. Trent has completed his soybean harvest. He estimated “about three days” to complete his corn harvest (from Friday, October 25, 2024). Trent described his yields as “good to average.” The “average” fields got a bad start from the wet May, both from delayed planting, and poor growing conditions after germination due to waterlogged soils. Careful crop management helped the plants thrive and produce adequate yields despite the poor start.

Southern Illinois got some heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The central and northern part of Illinois are
in moderate drought; severe drought in the northwest 4-5 counties. The soil moisture measurements in Champaign showed record high levels (wet) in May, then dropped to record low (dry) levels at the 8-inch depth in July and today.