News

A tale of two different planting seasons

Spring planting in Illinois is telling two different stories.  Mike Toohill, Illinois based agronomist for Diversified Services says the northern two-thirds of the state is in need of a rain.  “Soils are pretty dry here,” he says.  “Basically north of 70 in Illinois – we could take a half-inch to an inch of rain and still be in the fields next Wednesday.  The way these farmers operate we can have a big chunk of our corn crop in by the end of next weekend.”

Toohill tells Brownfield the southern part of the state continues to trail behind as it battles excess water and compaction issues.  “A lot of the fields were cut up pretty bad last fall,” he says.  “Farmers never really had a chance to work some of that compaction out.  The last time I was south of 70 the ruts in the field there were still there and full of water.  It’s going to take them a long time to dry out and I’m afraid they’re behind the eight ball and there’s just no way they’re going to be able to grow a good crop.”

However, he says, if Mother Nature cooperates and growers in the southern third of the state see mild temperatures and timely rains this growing season – yields could be surprising.