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Central Illinois farmer preparing for increased drying costs despite late season heat

A central Illinois farmer says it’s been a surprisingly slow start to harvest in his area.

John Klemm, who raises corn, soybeans, and cattle in DeWitt County, says it’s been hard to find corn ready to be harvested.

“That’s a 107-day hybrid and it’s running 21% to 22% moisture.”  He says, “So, it’s not so wet that we can’t be going, but it’s also not drying down. Usually by the end of September, that would be 15% already.”

He tells Brownfield it’s a surprise because of the recent late season heat wave, and he’s hearing from other farmers less than 30 miles away about corn drying down too fast.

“When we get to this point in the season and the corn hasn’t dried down yet, it’s a really good indicator that it’s not going to dry down a whole lot more,” he says.

He says it’s likely to lead to higher than anticipated drying costs.

“That means I’ve got 26 and 28% corn potentially still out there.”  He says, “We’re going to have to dry more bushels than what we’ve been accustomed to the last number of years.”

Klemm says that’s less than ideal when margins are already being squeezed by record high diesel prices and other escalating input costs.

“We’re going to be 10 to 15% below our APH on corn yield.”  He says, “We’re not quite seeing the yields that we want to see, but we’re also seeing yields that are still respectable. I think we’ll be okay from that standpoint. We’ve got a long ways to go.”

He says he’s more optimistic that soybean yields could help offset some of the added costs, and he expects to start that harvest within the next week.

AUDIO: John Klemm – Illinois farmer