From the Fields: Back in 2021

We, like most of the farms in our area, have completed harvest, spread fertilizer, applied ammonia, worked on dry dams and been able to get fall fieldwork started. Everything about this year has been anything, but normal. We have not been able to do fall fieldwork for years leading up to 2020, seen commodity prices continue to move higher past harvest, enjoy record soybean sales to China, live through another round of closures in Illinois for COVID-19, unable to find toilet paper and we still do not officially know who the president of the United States is — I could keep going, but your thoughts are probably being flooded with additional events from this year.

There are a few abnormal things I would like to keep such as commodity prices, soybean sales to China and the majority of area farmers I receive updates from during the harvest have beaten the new U.S. Department of Agriculture soybean estimates for Illinois of 58 bushels per acre and corn of 181 bushels per acre. But the majority of abnormal things, I would prefer to leave in 2020.

Thank you for allowing me to be a part of your weekly update to the area farming activities. This will be my last report this year. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our local experiences and how our farm has navigated the challenging yet rewarding journey of farming. I want to thank my network of expert farmers and all of you who have expressed kind words about my articles. I look forward to writing again in 2021.

Greenville, Ill.