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Illinois farmer welcomes warm up as planting continues

A central Illinois farmer says this week’s warm up is welcome.

Katie Brown, who raises corn, soybeans, and hogs in Christian County, tells Brownfield…

“We had a really good start. I think everybody was really excited. Dirt was working really nice. We put a lot of seed in the ground and we got a lot of it up and then it just started raining.”  She says, “We got the majority of our corn in. We’re still waiting on quite a few acres of beans.”

She says this spring’s gains in commodity prices have led to some marketing opportunities, but it adds pressure to the livestock side of the operation.

“Feed is our number one cost.”  She says, “There’s a balancing act of how much do we put into our pigs, knowing that we want them to be as efficient as possible, but also balancing that cost of ingredients as well.”

Brown, who also serves as president of the Illinois Pork Producers Association, says the wet spring has eased any lingering drought concerns, and despite the delays she’s happy with planting progress to this point.

AUDIO: Katie Brown – Ilinois farmer