2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour: Illinois

Jul 02, 2015

Third state in a 12-state tour

As Moe Agostino, Farms.com Risk Management’s Chief Commodity Strategist, and the Risk Management team continue the 2015 US Corn Belt Crop Tour, the third state visited during the 12-state tour was Illinois.

Even though Illinois seems to be in a better condition, moisture seems to be impacting some of the crops like it did in Ohio and Indiana.

“If I was to rank the states, Illinois looks the best,” Agostino said while in McComb County. “It has a lot more corn tasseled than Indiana or Ohio.”

Tall corn

“The state of Illinois, two to three weeks ago was looking really good. All of a sudden the moisture came. Too much moisture and we’ve shaved the top end.”

As the moisture continues to fall, farmers continue to battle it.

“There’s definitely stress,” said farmer Brian Bradshaw at his Griggsville, Illinois farm. “All the low places are yellow and half the size.”

With the moisture also comes the potential for nitrogen loss.

“We see a lot of that,” Bradshaw said. “Especially in the corn after corn.”

Generally, corn in Illinois seems to be okay, but it’s the soybean fields that have farmers concerned.

“Just too much rain,” said farmer Dean Ruebush. “There’s still bean acres left to plant and that’s very unusual.”

Follow along with Moe Agostino and his team as they continue to travel along the US Corn Belt.

The next stop on the tour is Missouri; be sure to follow the journey on Twitter using hashtag #CornBelt15.

Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.