Indiana
Dust clouds billow as combines harvest crops at record speed through a dry and parched Indiana. While farmers welcomed nearly seven days of great weather for fieldwork, they also watched the skies for much-needed rain.

According to USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), 88 percent of the corn is mature, compared to 13 last year and 44 for the five-year average. Twenty-seven percent of the corn crop has been harvested compared to none last year and 6 for the five-year average. Many farmers are saying they are in the fields a month earlier than usual.

“Corn harvest is moving faster than in recent years and is out and on its way in many areas of the state,” said Lindy Miller, Greene County Purdue University extension ag and natural resources educator.

Elevators such as Peavey Co. at Shelburn are bursting at the seams, already boasting massive ground piles. “Harvest started early with a number of farmers getting in in August,” said Justin Monger, Peavey’s general manager. “That has affected our operation dramatically. We have a million-and-a-half bushels of corn on the ground pile already and another 750,000 bushels of extra corn in addition to the ground pile.

“We’ve taken in 500,000 bushels soybeans for another ground pile. In-house we have close to 250,000 bushels of soybeans, and we haven’t hit the rush yet. This season is going to be taxing for farmers and for us as we try to get the rail moving. We depend on an efficient rail system to move the harvest quickly.”

While corn picking is moving rapidly, Miller believes late-planted soybeans are providing smaller beans: “Quite a few producers have been threshing early beans but are having to wait on late planted beans. Due to lack of moisture, there are still a lot of green stems making it hard to go through the combine. Early beans have definitely matured quickly because of the drought.”

NASS reports 79 percent of the soybean acreage is shedding leaves, compared with 36 last year. Twenty percent of the soybean acreage has been harvested, compared with none last year.
Monger says Sullivan County’s bean yields are “out of the ordinary,” ranging from “50 to upwards of 79 bushels per acre. But if you go west or east of us the yields are not good.”

Soybean condition is rated 51 percent good to excellent with the moisture content of harvested soybeans averaging about 12 percent, according to NASS.

Tobacco harvest is 79 percent complete, compared with 59 last year.

While there has been some concern how the dry weather conditions have affected pumpkin and ornamentals harvest, some farmers’ markets have plentiful offerings. “We have lots of pumpkins and ornamentals,” said Peggy Slater, owner of Slater’s Farm Market south of Terre Haute. “The number of pumpkins isn’t a problem. We may just have somewhat smaller pumpkins due to lack of moisture.”

Many farmers are grateful they cut hay early. Pasture condition is rated 12 percent good to excellent, compared with 54 last year.

By Susan Hayhurst
Indiana Correspondent

Illinois
Dry conditions during most of the week of Sept. 20 allowed the corn harvest in Illinois to progress nicely, according to NASS’ Illinois Weather & Crops report, with 90 percent of the state’s corn rated as mature and 38 harvested. The numbers reflect a shocking turnabout from 2009’s percentages of 12 percent mature and just 1 harvested during the same time of year.

In central Illinois, where NASS reported the corn crop was 42 percent harvested, many grain elevators were lined up with trucks whose beds were full of freshly-harvested corn. Most area farmers report their corn is dry and healthy, including Verne “Bun” Schaffner, a corn and soybean producer from northern Peoria County.

“The test weight has been real good so far, and I’ve been really pleased,” said Schaffner, whose corn was about 70 percent harvested as of Sept. 24. “We had some wet spots that drowned out some (corn plants), but overall we’ve had a good year.”

Schaffner reported his corn was testing at 13-14 percent for moisture, while in 2009 it topped the 20 percent mark. “We haven’t had to (artificially) dry any corn this year at all,” he said.
Across the Illinois River in Woodford County, Josh Yoder, president of Yoder Oil in Eureka, lamented that demand for corn drying this fall will be “virtually nil,” as will the demand for the propane his company sells farmers for fueling their dryers.

“That’s the good news for this year,” remarked Amy Rademaker, a farm safety specialist from Urbana. She said corn harvested recently on her family’s farm held moisture at a level or 15-17 percent.

“You can put the fans on it and dry it out a couple of percentage points instead of using a dryer,” she said.

NASS reported that soybeans turning yellow reached 87 percent in Illinois, with 65 shedding leaves. Already, 10 percent of the state’s soybean crop has been harvested, doubling the five-year average. Last year, none had been cut.

In Peoria County, Schaffner said he’s anticipating getting a start on his soybean harvest in about a week, weather permitting, or just as soon as his corn harvest is completed. “I still have some green in my soybeans, but they are looking really good,” he reported.

By Tim Alexander
Illinois Correspondent