Rain Delays Corn Harvest in Illinois

Dave Dahl -- Illinois Radio Network

The recent rain came too late to help many Illinois farmers.

“Last week’s weather did not help with corn progress,” says Mark Schleusener, state statistician for the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service.  “The state averaged 2.3 inches for the week, almost 1½ inches above normal.  Most of the crops (in Central Illinois) are past the point where a rainfall will help, and what it did was it delayed corn harvest.”

Schleusener says he did drive north from Springfield and noticed green soybean fields, so the rain could have helped those crops.

The corn harvest is at 2 percent, which is below average.  Soybeans are at 57 percent turning color and 20 percent dropping leaves, ahead of last year’s numbers.

Schleusener says this is also the season during which we’re sharing the road with the big farm vehicles.  As someone said, let’s be careful out there.