Special Report

“It’s very, very dry”

There was a lot of talk about dry crops in Illinois at the Farm Progress Show and many growers and crop specialists expressed more concern about soybeans than corn.  Ted Mottaz farms near Elmwood, in Central Illinois. He says his crops need a drink.

“I’m very concerned about tipping back of ears, in other words, corn kernels being aborted. I like to have my soybeans to have a little bit of – oh, a little struggle at the end of the season but then I want to have some rain to fill the pods and we are very, very dry.”

Mottaz tells Brownfield his brother is the one who walks their fields and is more optimistic than he is about the outcome.  Mottaz is a director on the board of the Illinois Corn Growers Association.

The U.S. Drought Monitor calls the conditions in the Midwest now a “FLASH DROUGHT”….with extreme heat and dryness combined.