Stories about the weather in northern Illinois
Between harvest and preparing for the state corn-husking competition, From the Fields contributor Clay Geyer has a busy October ahead of him.
Will we someday return to a more diversified Midwest agriculture economy incorporating livestock into row crop operations?
We have all but finished our harvest for the year. Corn chopping went extremely smooth with no rain delays and to my recollection only one truck needing pulled all season long — surely a record.
Who would have thought that hurricanes would impact Illinois weather so much, but that is what has happened. Not just one, but two of those storms made their way to southern Illinois with ample amounts of rain.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced up to $7.7 billion in assistance for fiscal year 2025 to help agricultural and forestry producers adopt conservation practices on working lands.
Like farmers and ranchers, veterinarians love to pour concrete. Many build customized facilities dedicated to their animal health mission: examination rooms, operating theaters, cattle chutes, holding pens, loading docks.
The devastation across the South right now is heartbreaking. I know I speak for the whole Farm Bureau family when I say we are lifting our neighbors up in prayer, across the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Florida.
We harvested my two corn test plots. Technically, this is a corn-on-soybean plot because we broke the cycle of corn-on-corn last year. Both of my companies — LG Seeds and Golden Harvest — are helping.
As you make your way through another busy harvest, it’s important to record your field observations in order to make informed decisions for next year’s product selections.
Farmers should consider stalk quality as they decide which cornfields to harvest first.
Harvest is in full swing for Mark Seib, a grain farmer from Posey County in the southwestern corner of Indiana.
AgriGold agronomist Brett Leahr is concerned crown rot will be widespread in the Corn Belt this fall, especially in his territory that stretches from northern Missouri to central Illinois.
The water level of the Mississippi River is unusually low for the third straight year, forcing barge companies to put limits on how much cargo they can carry and cutting into farm profits.
In an episode of Purdue Agriculture’s “Managing Strategic Risks on Your Farm” podcast series, agricultural economists discussed how you can position your farm to not only survive, but actually thrive in a risky world.
Corn harvest started on the Rahn farm at the middle of September, which is typical for them.
A late-summer drought across much of the Midwest certainly altered the landscape. The cows are moving slowly, single file as they often do, coming from a pasture to get a drink from the automatic waterers.
The mill is buzzing with activity to prepare some of our fiber for sale and complete customer orders. We make felted batts from our Scottish Blackface wool.
We’ve gone more than a month now without any rain and none in our forecast, so the pastures are thirsty. In spite of that, the cover crops on our wheat stubble are looking surprisingly well.
Beef production spans generations in the Hanson and Kuipers family in Iroquois County where they operate a forage-based program utilizing a paddock grazing system along with growing corn, soybeans and wheat.
Every day, rain or shine, farmers rise to do their jobs. Whether we’re tired or stressed, we press on. If we disagree with a family member, we find a way forward. We don’t stall on planting or harvesting or caring for our animals.
I think the very earliest planted corn is getting close, but with the dry forecast, producers are probably taking advantage of in-field drying to get the moisture down so there’s not much drying expense.
Rain at the end of August was good timing for the double-crop soybeans growing in northern Illinois.
I think we’re going to be better than last year for corn and soybean yields. I don’t have super high expectations, but it’s going to be good.
Sometimes, life is heavy. Trying to balance my career, household duties and helping on the farm quickly became overwhelming. To put it lightly, I was exhausted.
Disaster assistance for producers and training new staff has been among the many focuses of the Farm Service Agency’s Illinois offices over the last several months.
Purdue University researchers have developed a new sorghum trait that is safe for livestock and preferred by animals.
After waiting, not so patiently, for the corn to mature, we finally had a field last week get mature enough to start chopping. Now we will race to stay ahead of the corn getting too mature.
It certainly has dried up in a hurry and pastures are showing the ill effects of that. We have had some hot days, but for the most part temperatures have been moderate, so it could have been worse.
Armyworms are appropriately named. They definitely work like an army, moving their line forward as efficiently and rapidly as possible, attempting to overwhelm the enemy and gain territory.
The stories across the Corn Belt’s Federal Reserve Districts mirrored one another in the agriculture sector with concerns over lower commodity prices and favorable crop conditions.
As harvest season approaches in northern Indiana, farmers like Clay Geyer are preparing their equipment and fields for the crucial months ahead.
First Mid Ag Services’ 28th annual yield survey estimates McLean County corn to average 227.12 bushels per acre, 14.76 bushels above the five-year average.
Richard Lyons of Harvel is the recipient of the 2024 Illinois Leopold Conservation Award.
Rain makes grain, and two mid-August Department of Agriculture reports offered this year’s first in-the-field look at just how much corn, soybeans and wheat American farmers will grow this wet, grain-making year.
As summer presses onward, From the Fields contributor Mark Seib continues balancing farm and family life.
Even as Eric Miller looks at potentially bumper crops of corn, full-season soybeans and double-crop soybeans, the specter of lower commodity prices lurks.
An all-in-one drone system recently released into the marketplace is among the latest research projects at Precision Technology Institute that focuses on crop scouting.
It continues to look fantastic. We just got through one of the coolest and wettest Julys on record for Illinois, so that’s a good combination for crops. Our weather station had about seven and a quarter inches of rain for July.
I hope you readers saw the recent AgriNews article on sheep grazing under solar farms. Land stays in production while generating electricity for the grid and cash for shepherds while saving on mowing and spraying costs.
I’ve been busy with the granddaughters’ fair schedule of showing. The oldest one can now drive, so that helps a lot, but grandpa still drives the truck and trailer to the shows.
The season-average farm price projection continued edging downward as production out-paces demand, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
From a window blind to cell phones, security has changed over time, but keeping crop report data secret until its official release has been the goal for over a century.
Headwinds hit the soybean market, pulling prices below the $10 mark to a four-year low, driven by abundant supply and relatively low demand reflected in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s reports.
I don’t know if we’ll have a record-breaker, but we should have phenomenal crops. But we need to dry out for a while because if it keeps raining, it’s going to hurt our soybeans, especially the later planted soybeans.
Things are really green everywhere. I feel very good about where we are in the grazing year. That is, we are ready to start the last rotation on our fescue, before we begin stockpiling for winter grazing.
Summer is in full swing on Clay Geyer’s home fields, where he’s on the lookout for — and has already found — some plant diseases and weeds.
What is the condition of your corn and soybean crops and what are your thoughts about the grain markets as we start down the homestretch of the growing season and begin to prepare for harvest?
Time is running out for Congress to pass a modernized farm bill this year. Families — on and off the farm — cannot afford a delay.
When cooling centers are opened up in our town, you know it’s brutally hot. It’s not something that’s usually done around here. But recent temperatures have been shocking for our area.