Illinois crops look good, but its early

Posted on July 30, 2018
Farming
Illinois crop reports are good, but that’s not the whole story. (Pixabay)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois crop condition reports are good, but that’s not the whole story in determining the first yield forecast, out a week from Friday.

“Nobody’s run a combine yet,” says Mark Schleusener, state statistician for the USDA in Illinois. “They can be misleading. We do not place a lot of emphasis on them when it comes to forecasting yield as in bushels-per-acre. For bushels-per-acre we use a different methodology. We do the field counts and measurements. We also ask the producers themselves, who have lots of experience. They know the conditions of their fields.”

Corn is 64 percent in the dough stage and six percent dented. 77 percent of soybeans are setting pods. All of those figures are well ahead of a year ago. 75 percent of corn and 80 percent of soybeans are in good to excellent condition.

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