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Harvest well underway in southeastern Illinois

A southeastern Illinois farmer says corn and soybean harvest is moving at a brisk pace in his area.

Jeff Scates, who farms in Gallatin and White Counties, says he’s harvested a third of his corn and a quarter of his soybeans.

“We started around the 20th of August, which is at least a week quicker than normal startup.”  He says, “Yields have been pretty decent overall. We haven’t been in a lot of really bad anything yet.”

He tells Brownfield that the late season heat wave has sped up dry down of both crops.

“We went from looking for a spot to cut beans to everything’s running 9 and 10% now.”  He says, “Corn, we started in that 26, 28% neighborhood and now some of our later planted corn is actually coming out at about 18%.”

Statewide, the USDA says 3% of the corn crop is harvested with 55% in good to excellent condition, 96% in dough stage, 76% dented, and 29% mature, while 57% of soybeans are in good shape with 24% dropping leaves. 

AUDIO: Jeff Scates – Illinois farmer