When Vermilion County farmers look back on 2024 they will no doubt remember a very strong harvest. The Vermilion County Farm Bureau’s Tom Fricke says what he’s constantly hearing is that the expectations going into this year’s harvest were actually surpassed.
AUDIO: I think for the most part everybody was pleasantly surprised; and very pleased with the yield numbers we had, corn and soybeans. I heard some guys say they’ve never had higher bean yields on certain fields. Other guys are saying the corn was just outstanding all the way around. And now, we’ve just got to get the prices pulled back up.
Fricke says one of the nicest surprises about the 2024 harvest was that despite worries about a backlog of grain clogging up the elevators; that just did not happen.
AUDIO: We were looking at a big crop. We thought it might have an impact on some of the delivery times. But I think, for the most part, deliveries went pretty well. The dryness of the fall kept harvest moving; and while there may have been some elevators shut down for a few hours somedays, overall it went pretty well.
As far as wishes go for the 2025 growing season, Fricke says it’s pretty much the same as it’s been for the last few years; for Congress in Washington to finally reach the finish line on a brand new permanent Farm Bill.
AUDIO: There was talk that the current farm bill was going to be extended through the continuation resolution they’re talking about right now in D.C. But I guess that’s kind of up in the air now as well. The Farm Bill is a very complicated piece. Only less than 20 percent of it directly affects production agriculture. But the food and nutrition programs, and that sort of thing, are part of the farm bill as well.
Fricke says for the actual farming community; a continued crop insurance program is the top concern for that long awaited federal farm bill.
