By Carrie Muehling
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois farmers are taking advantage of good weather to get this year’s crop into the ground.
“It’s very active – I can say that. If folks aren’t done yet, pretty much everybody else is in the field planting. Corn planting will wrap up for some folks this week here and a lot of beans are already started,” said Brien Fell, product agronomist with DuPont Pioneer. “With the good weather we’ve had and the efficiency of the equipment and the operations, it doesn’t take long. This window has been a very, very pleasant window and much appreciated for the producers that have waited.”
Fell said cold temperatures in some areas didn’t slow farmers down all that much.
“A lot of them are equipped now where they have multiple planters and they’re actually planting soybeans right along side of corn, so it’s all happening here today and it will continue as long as this weather holds. There will be a lot of stuff done in the next three to five days,” said Fell.
Fell said farmers have faced few challenges so far this spring. He said more and more growers are experimenting with variable rate planting, as well as with different planting populations. He covers an area including 22 countries in the central and western parts of Illinois.
Carrie Muehling can be reached at carrie@wjbc.com.
