SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – There hasn’t been a lot of rain in the area in recent weeks, but the corn and soybean crops seem to be holding up well.
The USDA weekly Crop Progress Report for Illinois shows corn at 65 percent in good to excellent shape, a little lower than last week, and soybeans at 62 percent good to excellent, also slightly down. Some corn is in the silking and blooming stages.
But soil moisture may become a problem soon enough.
“The topsoil moisture supply was rated 11 percent very short, 33 percent short, 55 percent adequate, and one percent surplus,” said Steve Harn, USDA Crop Statistician. “Subsoil moisture supply was rated seven percent very short, 28 percent short, 64 percent adequate, and one percent surplus.”
Harn says rain in the last week was a little below normal as well.
On the bright side, Harn says farmers got about six and a half days worth of fieldwork in, including a substantial bump in the winter wheat harvest.
