Trent Looks Back On 2017
“Spring planting took forever, so harvest took forever too.”
Trent recalled a lot of extra work in replanting after the ponding from the May rains. “The April-planted beans did great,” he happily noted. Overall, Trent’s soybeans did better than expected, because the late harvest of the replanted beans left more time for pod fill.
Trent was also pleasantly surprised with the quality and yield of his corn crop. Forced by seemingly endless rains to plant much of it later than he wanted, the rest of the growing season and the vastly-improved genetics of current varieties, gave Trent a respectable, if not bumper, yield. Another plus feature was the unusually dry August and early September, enabling the corn to dry for storage in the field, rather than having to pay the elevator. “Now, if we could just do something about (market) prices,” Trent concluded.
Trent and his family wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Prosperous New Year.
More from The Field Report
Wild And Windy Winter Weekend
Trent Brandenburg and family endured a near miss yesterday as a tornado touched down a few miles from their home place. Tornadoes are a rare occurrence in December, but a "bomb cyclone" ripped through central Illinois yesterday. Houses were unroofed [...]
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 [...]