News

Illinois farmer seeing yield variability

A central Illinois farmer is seeing variable yields as he harvests corn and soybeans.

Jim Reed, Treasurer for the Illinois Corn Marketing Board, tells Brownfield he began harvesting corn Monday on his farm in Piatt County.

“We went out and tested corn and found some that was right around 19.5%. I was yielding pretty good. We are well over 200 with those yields and really happy with that.”

However, he says a later maturing field did not have the same results.

“It was on a knob and that had a negative effect from the lack of moisture late in the season. It dropped off considerably and was more in the 160 range.”

Reed says they have seen the same thing in bean fields so far. He expects many farmers in his area will see similar variability this year based on the type of ground and whether or not fields happened to get a stray shower later in the season.