2016 Corn Belt Crop Tour: Illinois

Jun 30, 2016

Third state in a 12-state tour

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Chief Commodity Strategist for Farms.com Risk Management Moe Agostino and his team rolled into Illinois as the 2016 U.S. Corn Belt Crop Tour continues to visit farms and farmers throughout the American Midwest.

Like Indiana and Ohio before it, corn fields in Illinois are suffering from a lack of moisture.

"The next two to three weeks is critical," Agostino said. "(Crops) are going to need a drink soon. If (they) don’t finish strong and don’t get some moisture in August, you can be down to 150 (bushels per acre).”

Farmers are echoing the need for rain.

“We’re really dry,” said Brian Bradshaw, a cash crop farmer from New Salem, Illinois. “We need (rain) in the next 10 to 14 days or we’ll really be toast.”

When it comes to soybeans in Illinois, the fields seem to be holding up despite the lack of rain.

“We look pretty good,” said Cara Meteer, District Sales Manager with Great Lakes Hybrid. “I think beans prove their worth in a year like this with all the heat.”

Overall, Agostino said he’s impressed with crop status in Illinois.

“We saw a lot of tasseled corn, more than we saw in Ohio or Indiana. I think we are going to have to rate this crop (including beans) at 8.5 or 9 out of 10.”

Be on the lookout for Moe and his team as Crop Tour makes its way into Missouri.

If you’re a farmer in Missouri or Wisconsin and want Moe Agostino and his team to stop at your farm, fill out the volunteer form online.

You can also follow the tour on social media using the hashtag #cornbelt16.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.