Early optimism: ‘A wonderful place to farm’

RANKIN, Ill. — For one central Illinois farmer, the 2020 planting season is starting better than the 2019 season did, in no small part due to the calendar.

“Things are looking a whole lot better than last year,” said Chris Elliott.

Elliott farms with his brother, Brian, his sons, Trace and Taylor, and hired man, Ken Kuntz. They farm land in Champaign, Ford and Vermilion counties, raising corn and soybeans.

The 2020 planting season started much earlier for them, exactly a month earlier.

“Last year, I didn’t start until May 21. We started one evening about 7 p.m. We got one day and the next day and we didn’t go to the field again until June 2. We planted the majority of our corn from June 2 to June 7 last year,” Elliott said.

Elliott said he was a third of the way finished with corn and soybeans by April 22 and expected that another 10 days to two weeks, even if that time is broken up by rains, to finish planting corn and soybeans.

This year also has brought some of the most favorable early planting conditions that Chris has seen in years.

“Planting conditions are going real good. We’ve had two farms that are new to us. This is our third year on both of them. This is the first time we’ve been able to plant them in dry conditions and it’s really made a big difference,” Elliott said.

Better conditions also allowed Elliott to get some fieldwork done that wasn’t possible last year.

“Starting a month earlier is a good shot. We did put on more spring-applied ammonia, simply because the time was there. We also tilled about a third of our standing stalks because it was too chilly for the burndown to work, so we went ahead and worked those and planted into a stale seedbed just to get ahead of the game,” Elliott said.

Elliott has a positive outlook in general and said he’s optimistic going into the growing year.

That optimism is fueled by good relationships with his input suppliers and gratitude for the ground he farms.

“We don’t have a lot of flat black. We are a little north of that. We are in just an excellent area to farm. We’ve got good support, Shaff’s and Birkey’s and AHW, just excellent support from our dealers down here, good fertilizer companies, good seed dealers. Central Vermilion County is just an excellent spot, wonderful neighbors and a wonderful place to farm. We have good neighbors, good, friendly people, and we wave to everybody,” Elliott said.

Coronavirus has meant some changes on the farm but even then, Elliott said he’s confident that things will return to pre-COVID-19 ways.

One of the biggest changes has been with implement dealers, who closed their stores to protect their employees and their customers, but who found a way to get parts to their customers. Elliott works with Shaff Machinery Co., Birkey’s and AHW for his farm equipment needs.

“The biggest difference I’ve seen is there’s a table out in front of the door. They put the parts on the table, we call in and then go pick them up. We like to go in and tease them, and we sure miss that,” Elliott said.

Other suppliers have made adjustments to ensure that planting and farming continues.

“I worry about those guys and I think they are concerned about us, but they are doing their jobs and we appreciate what they are doing. Our parts haven’t been disrupted. Our fuel guy is coming. We don’t shake hands like we used to, but that will come back,” Elliott said.

Elliott and his brother are the fourth generation of their family to farm, and he knows that a good start doesn’t always equal a great year.

“We’ve got a ways to go and we just got a good start and things are going really well. The way prices are, we’re going to need bushels. We’ve got a long ways to go there. I’m not going to give up on that. We’ve got good people in charge, and we’re going to get through this,” he said.