Illinois’ two major cash crops moving along

Posted on July 28, 2020
Corn
USDA state statistician Mark Schleusener says the average rainfall was about an inch and a quarter, which is about a quarter inch above normal. (WJBC file photo)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Warm and wet were the watchwords of last week in the farm fields of Illinois, according to the USDA crop report.

USDA state statistician Mark Schleusener says the average rainfall was about an inch and a quarter, which is about a quarter inch above normal. The average temperature of 77 was about a degree warmer than normal.

Corn’s 89 percent silked, 22 percent in the dough stage and 74 percent rated good to excellent. Soybeans are 67 percent blooming, 36 percent setting pods and 76 percent good to excellent.

Schleusener says farmers should be receiving surveys for the August 12 forecast report.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…