Lack Of Rain Took The Top Off
Dry Hot Days in August
Trent Brandenburg believes the last two weeks of no rain “took the top off” what had looked like bin-busting yields of both corn and soybeans. “We really needed a good rain two weeks ago,” he continued. Trent doesn’t see a rain event now making much difference, perhaps some improvement in soybean pod fill for later-planted fields.
Trent expects good yields for both his corn and soybean plantings, but the depressed market prices of recent years mean that the revenue netted from the 2020 crop will require careful marketing to maximize the return. The old saying still holds: “It’s not how many bushels you got per acre, but how much money did you take to the bank.”
More from The Field Report
Dry Weather Speeds Harvest
Trent Brandenburg is trying to get his field work done "before it rains". Much of the area Trent farms is in "extreme drought" according to the Illinois Drought Monitor https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?IL map, which is updated every Thursday. The very dry soil [...]
In a Drought, but Corn is Too Wet to Harvest
The current Illinois drought map (11 September) shows severe drought in the northern 40% of Piatt County and moderate drought in the rest of Piatt and adjacent areas of neighboring counties. Trent Brandenburg has barely started harvesting because his corn [...]
Summertime Mowing And Spraying
Trent Brandenburg has been busy mowing his lawn and his roadsides due to the sunshine and frequent rains making his grass grow as well as his corn and soybeans. He has been hiring aerial spraying of fungicides to suppress disease [...]