Cash crops close to being fully planted

Posted on June 16, 2020
USDA’s Mark Scheusener says crops across Illinois are getting close to being completely planted. (Photo courtesy: WJBC/File)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The weather down on the farm is pretty good.

Mark Schleusener of the USDA’s crop reporting service in Illinois says last week’s average temperature in the state was about 72, within a degree of normal, and the average rainfall was .59 inches, when it should have been closer to an inch.

As for the major cash crops in the state, Schleusener says corn’s 94 percent emerged, with 63 percent in good-to-excellent condition. Soybeans are 84 percent emerged, with 64 percent in good-to-excellent condition.

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…