Vermilion County corn and soybean crops are continuing to advance despite all the rain and thunderstorms this summer. Tom Fricke, Public Information Spokesman for the Vermilion County Farm Bureau, described how the crops are doing…
{AUDIO: ‘’The growing conditions have been fairly well. I mean, lately of course, we’ve had a lot of rain. So there’s been a lot of ponding in some fields. That’s going to detract from those areas,’’ said Fricke during an interview with VermilionCountyFirst.com News. ‘’And the continued rain – while the ground is saturated – if it keeps coming down like it has in some instances, you get a lot of run-off so you get some erosion. So there is concern there. But overall, so far what hasn’t been affected by the rain is looking real well.’’}
This field in the Grape Creek area was getting more rain Monday.
Fricke noted farmers were optimistic as spring planting began because of prices….
{AUDIO: ‘’Well the prices certainly shot up earlier in the year. They’ve come back down a little bit as more information about this crop has come out. But so far it’s still presented some opportunities for farmers to make some good sales and make some good profits on their crop. It’s just a matter of getting that crop to the finish line, because, as you know, a lot of things can happen between now and harvest.’’
These soybeans near Danville have been getting lots of rain. Nearly 7 inches fell late Sunday.
Fricke says farmers are keeping a close eye on their crops this summer…
{AUDIO: ‘’Absolutely. I mean every time you get a wind storm comes through it’s a concern. Especially when you’ve had a lot of wet rain – you’ve got wet conditions beforehand. The corn can blow over. You also have concerns about a wind storm knocking over the corn stalks. Hail damage can still happen on soybeans. And while rain right now helps the corn crop, the soybeans need the rain in August. So we’ll see what conditions are like there before we can really say whether we’ve got a good soybean crop or not.’’}
Fricke noted more and more farmers are planting earlier – planting corn and soybeans at the same time. ‘’So as those trends continue, we’ll continue to see a change in how the growing seasons develop as years go by,’’ he added.
