News

Illinois crop update

A central Illinois agronomist says the crops in his area look better than average.

Matt Montgomery is with Pioneer. “Seventy-five to eighty percent of the district I cover really, really looks good,” he says.  “In most locations, I don’t think people have seen a crop that has looked this consistent from one side of the field to the other.”

He tells Brownfield some farmers in the western part of the state haven’t had enough rainfall and the crop doesn’t look as good.

But, he says, the crop needs more cool nights.  “Right now, we’ve had a couple of cool evenings – but we’ve had some really warm nighttime temperatures,” he says.  “That continues to just push this crop through maturity.  But we need it to slow down just a little bit down so it can fill those kernels and give us the kernel depth we’re looking for.”

Montgomery says the potential for big yields is there – but a few things need fall into place for “potential” to become a “sure thing”.