Farmers expect neither feast nor famine in 2020 harvests
PEKIN, Ill. (AP) - After a dry August, the State Climatologist Office for Illinois classified central Illinois counties as being either abnormally dry or in state of moderate drought. But Tazewell County farmers seem to anticipate a respectable harvest in spite of this summer's unusual weather conditions.
'œI think we'll have a decent yield on corn and soybeans,'ť said Tazewell County Farm Bureau president Kent Kleinschmidt. 'œBoth crops went through some less-than-ideal conditions early in the season, but we had good, favorable weather after that. We had some little dry spells, but we've had some timely rain and we've had some heat and we've had some cooler weather. I think the crops overall look pretty good in our area. I don't think they'll be bumper crops, but they're sure not going to be a disaster, either.'ť
Ryan Voorhees, who grows wheat as well as the central Illinois staple crops of field corn and soybeans near Washington, said this summer has certainly been unusual in terms of weather. July, he noted, was an especially wet month and was sandwiched between a particularly dry June and August. While the general lack of precipitation in August may have had some effect on his yields, Voorhees expects at least an average harvest.
'œBut all the yield information is a speculative guess until you actually get into the field and start harvesting,'ť he added.
Last spring, flooding in central Illinois delayed planting, which in turn put area farmers behind schedule for their harvests. Kleinschmidt said that he did not begin harvesting last year's crops until October and did not finish until early November. That is about two weeks behind the usual timetable. This year, both Kleinschmidt and Voorhees anticipate being on track to begin their harvests in mid-to-late September and to complete them by late October. At this point, Kleinschmidt is actually hoping for a dry autumn.
'œWe usually look forward to kind of a dry period during harvest so you don't have muddy conditions that you're trying to deal with,'ť he explained. 'œOnce the crop gets toward maturity, it's OK if it stops raining for a while. Additional rain's not going to help the crop any and it complicates the harvest.'ť
Harvests for some specialty crops like seed corn and pumpkins are already underway. While Ackerman Farms, LLC, in Morton grows corn and soybeans, the company is probably better known for its 160 varieties of pumpkins, gourds and squash. Ackerman Farms co-owner John H. Ackerman said that the company has been hand-picking pumpkins for about three weeks. Weather that may somewhat curtail this year's corn and soybean yields appears to have been advantageous conditions for pumpkins, he added.
'œYou wouldn't think so, but pumpkins do better when it's reasonably dry,'ť said Ackerman. 'œThe pumpkin crop is looking pretty good. The corn and soybeans are struggling a little bit from the lack of rain in August, but now we've caught some rain at the end. I think we're going to have a decent crop of corn and beans and I think we're going to have a very good crop of pumpkins.'ť
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has had such a profound impact on the day-to-day lives in the United States, apparently will not unduly affect Tazewell County farmers' harvest operations. Kleinschmidt and Voorhees both noted that harvest crews work in conditions where physical distancing is not difficult. Voorhees predicted that the most significant change the coronavirus will bring to this year's harvests is that there will be less social interaction at grain elevators between farmers and operators. He is aware of a number of cases where farmers and delivery drivers have been asked to not converse with grain elevator staff as they would in past years.
'œIt makes sense, because if the workers who run the elevators get sick, it closes an entire elevator down,'ť Voorhees added. 'œThat doesn't affect just one farmer. It affects multiple farmers and could layer in an added challenge.'ť
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Source: Pekin Daily Times, https://bit.ly/2RNeTHf