After that week around the 20th of September where it was beautiful, dry weather all week long and the harvest was off to a rocking start, regular and frequent rains have slowed things down. But Vermilion County Farm Bureau spokesperson Tom Fricke says statewide and countywide we’re fairly close to where the five year average would be at this time, perhaps a bit ahead on corn and a bit behind on soybeans. For this year alone, Vermilion County is pretty close to shadowing statewide numbers of about 55 percent done on corn and 43 percent on soybeans. Fricke says these recent rains are definitely slowing the soybean harvest more than corn.
AUDIO: It tends to impact the soybeans more than the corn; because they’re more, I don’t know if susceptible is the right word, but they’re more condition sensitive when it comes to harvesting them.
The usual routine is start on the corn, do all the soybeans, and then finish the corn. This year it may be tempting to go back and forth depending upon the weather, and Fricke says, sometimes that’s feasible, and sometimes not.
AUDIO: With the modern equipment you can change heads fairly easily and go back and forth. However, we have a lot of guys in this area that will grow soybeans for seed. And they have to go through an extra cleaning process in the machine when they switch, so once they switch they don’t like to go back and forth too much, so that just slows the whole process down.
Fricke reminds us that although things seem a bit in a rut right now, we are still in October so there’s plenty of time. And once the harvest is done, lots of field work will be going on, so please continue to be aware and alert of farm vehicles on the roads.
