As we are into the month of June, with corn and soybeans emerging and growing, Tom Fricke of the Vermilion County Farm Bureau says the hope now is for a consistent mix of moisture and drying; after all the chaos of wetness through April and catching up through May.
AUDIO: If we could have maybe a half an inch to an inch a week, but then have warm dry days in between that, that would be almost ideal conditions. But you don’t want those inch rains back-to-back-to-back; and then you’ve got ponding and issues.
And one thing for sure, the crops in the fields are not solely on automatic pilot yet. Farmers still need to be able to get out there and do their field work.
AUDIO: There’s still nitrogen being applied to certain fields. There’s still spraying being done to both corn and soybeans to control weeds and insects. So there are field activities that still take place, and we still need some timely weather to be able to get those done on a timely basis.
Fricke says although the recent Southern Illinois Wheat Tour brought some good news about the state’s wheat crop, that’s little reflection at all on how corn and soybeans will do, as the wheat crop is pretty much made before the corn and soybeans begin coming up.
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