This week’s sun and warmer temperatures have brought a substantial break from strong winter weather for Vermilion County farmers. Would they prefer that the rest of winter provide a deeper frost line to kill off more bugs or more moisture to prepare for planting season? The Vermilion County Farm Bureau’s Tom Fricke says the answer for most is the latter.
AUDIO: We’ll take moisture anytime we can get it. Up until the end of the year, we were still listed on the drought monitor maps. So, anytime we can build up that ground soil moisture, we’ll take it.
It was recently announced that statewide Illinois remained the top soybean producer in the country with a record of 688 million bushels of soybeans, breaking the statewide record of 666 million bushels in 2018. Fricke says with 20% of each bean producing soybean oil, for perhaps more development with sustainable aviation fuel; the remaining 80% of each of those record beans will be put to good use as well.
AUDIO: Sustainable aviation fuel is a new emerging market for soybean oil; and so that is a positive. Crushing the oil out of the meal then provides the soybean meal, which then is another product that can be sold for animal feed; whether locally or internationally. And so that’s an option that can provide added value to our farmers as well.
Fricke says it appears that Vermilion County followed the state with a substantially strong soybean yield. Vermilion County’s 2024 numbers will be announced around the end of February.
