Illinois farmers off to strong start

Posted on May 4, 2016
Corn planting
2016 is shaping up to be a good year for Illinois’ headline crops. (Photo courtesy Stevie Rocco/flickr)

By FarmWeekNow/WFMB

SPRINGFIELD – Cooler than normal and wetter than normal, that would be a good way to describe last week around Illinois.

It’s a combination of weather that keeps farmers out of the fields. But farmers aren’t worried too much right now about being late planting this year’s corn crop. According to state crop statistician Mark Schleusener, they were able to get off to a fast start during warm and dry stretches in April.

“Corn planting advanced 24 points, to 66 percent com, compared with 58 percent one year ago and 38 percent for the five-year average,” Schleusner said. “Corn has emerged on 25 percent of acres, compared to 12 percent normally.”

Soybean planting has started in some areas of Illinois, and with a warmer and dryer trend ahead in the forecast, planting will pick back up later this week.

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