All In All, Things Are Pretty Good
August 2015 Farm Report
Trent Brandenburg, just back from a family summer vacation, looked over his fields and said, “It’s been a strange year. All in all, things are pretty good.”
Trent sees good crops. He knows there will be some damage from ponding in mid-field that is only visible from the combine cab. The foliage diseases showing up on some corn fields are not serious so far for Trent. There is some on lower leaves, below the ears, but the sun doesn’t get that far down the plant so the net effect is small. Some varieties are more susceptible than others. Trent does not see enough crop damage, so far, to justify the cost of spraying.
“Beans are incredibly tall,” Trent observed,”they’re shoulder-high.” Trent sees a possibility of some harvest challenge if the plants start falling over from adverse weather conditions such as wind.
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 [...]