Late harvest means lots of work for N. Illinois farmers

In normal years, northern Illinois farmers would be nearing the end of the fall harvest and preparing for the holidays.

Not so in 2009, as cool, wet weather produced a domino effect on crops. Farmers only recently began the harvest and expect to be working well beyond the traditional season wrap.

"I'm sure we'll spend Thanksgiving on a combine in a cornfield someplace. I just hope we don't spend Christmas," said Scott Petersen, whose family farms 1,600 acres near Libertyville.

Sidelined by an exceptionally wet October, farmers finally harvested soybeans and have just started on the corn.

"It will probably be one of the latest harvests we've ever seen in Lake County," said Greg Koeppen, Lake County Farm Bureau manager.

In McHenry County, farmers are experiencing the third slowest corn harvest and second slowest soybean harvest on record.

"We're kind of concerned it might drag out into mid- or late-December," said Dan Volkers, McHenry County Farm Bureau manager.

Another issue is the corn is wet. Typically, it has a water content of about 18 percent when harvested and needs to be at 14 percent to be safely stored, Volkers said. It now is at 26 percent.

Farmers without substantial storage take it to grain dealers. But those facilities can only dry so much at a time, and limits are being placed on how much will be accepted.

"There's not enough drying equipment to keep up," Volkers said. "People don't realize that as wet as it is, it's slowing down the whole system."

Petersen, who has his own drying system, says he is harvesting 12 to 14 semitrailer loads of corn per day rather than 20 because it takes longer to remove the moisture.

That means he and his counterparts in other areas have been working well into the night, prompting alerts from both farm bureaus.

Motorists are being urged to use common sense when passing, to expect wide left turns from lumbering farm machinery and not assume the driver in that big cab can see you.

And if you can't pass, just enjoy the ride, they say. Following at 20 mph for six minutes is the equivalent of waiting at two stoplights, according to the farm bureaus.

"They forget it's a lot harder to stop that combine than their SUV or sedan," Koeppen said. "People just have to be a little more cautious and respectful when they see (farm) equipment moving around."

While idling behind that combine or tractor, motorists may also consider what exactly they're seeing.

In McHenry County, most of the corn is known as Yellow No. 2 or field corn.

"The misconception is people think it's just animal feed but it's in a whole bunch of food," Volkers said. While most goes to chicken farms, cornflakes and high fructose syrup also are some of the end products.

Petersen said all his corn is used for human consumption in products like corn oil and cornstarch and sweeteners for soda.

Will the harvest delay mean higher consumer prices later?

Volkers said supply and demand shouldn't be an issue.

"There's enough in the pipeline," he said.

Petersen agreed.

"The only way that could be a deterrent is the quality of the product from the field," he said.

"I don't see that getting to the consumer. That will be the plight of the farmer."