Crop Progress

On my return trip Friday, we flew some distance over the Missouri River bottoms.  Looking down, it was apparent that some of the swales in the valley are still wet.  We stopped to visit some customers on the way home and confirmed that on the ground.  In contrast, sandier soils on the ridges were very stressed.  Corn is beyond stressed and most of it is drying down.  If corn leaves are yellow, they are probably out of nitrogen.  That is not a bad thing for drying purposes, but it might have reduced the yield potential.

We also passed by our Staunton customer base.  early corn there is mature and drying.  Even later corn has probably reached its yield potential.  Soybeans in the Staunton area were also stressed and high sodium soils looked worse than surrounding soils.  South of Hillsboro a few fields of soybeans are turning yellow.  Along I-55 at Edwardsville, some of the early fields are harvested.  If long range forecasts are right, I think we can expect an early harvest for as late as planting was done.

Illinois weather and crop report this week confirms what we are seeing. Only 40% of corn is good to excellent.  Only 30% are reporting adequate moisture.  Temperatures are starting to cool.  That is not a bad thing.  11% of the crop is reported as mature.  I think that number is far higher.  It could be as much as 30%.  For some reason crop reporters are hesitant to look for black layering.  To me it looks like 11% is way past maturity and headed into the dry down phase.  Harvest is just a question of workload and how much you want to spend on drying.  Dry weather will have some corn maturing prematurely.