News

Rains hampering southern Illinois planting & wheat crop

A southeastern Illinois farmer says frequent heavy rains have slowed down progress this spring.

Don Guinnip, who farms in Clark County, says planting in his area has been spotty.

“There’s a little bit of soybeans planted off and on the last two or three weeks when it was dry enough.”  He says, “I would say there’s some corn going in the ground, although the soils are still pretty wet.”

He tells Brownfield the wet weather has also impacted his wheat crop.

“Some of the ground that wasn’t very well drained like in one of my wheat fields, there’s a couple kind of pale green spots where I’d say the water stood for a day or two.”  He says, “We’ve had a little bit probably loss of nitrogen there, but anywhere we’ve got drainage, we’ve got a very good-looking wheat crop.”

In its latest weekly crop conditions report, the USDA says the state’s wheat crop in good to excellent condition was down by 10% from the previous week primarily because of the weather issues.

Guinnip says now that warmer weather has arrived, planting will be in high gear as fields dry out.

AUDIO: Don Guinnip – Illinois farmer