Good, bad & ugly in fields

CHENOA – Area farmer Brian Schaumburg has seen the good, the bad and the ugly out in the fields this year.

“We had places where we had to replant. Those beans have fallen off by about 15 bushels from our best,” Schaumburg told The Central Illinois Farm Network recently.

Schaumburg’s area of McLean County is about 90 percent done with the corn harvest and halfway done with soybeans. He was lucky enough to miss some of the bigger rains last week and was waiting for conditions to dry out and warm up late in the week.

Yield ranges from the mid-60s and mid-80s are common across Schaumburg’s territory. He noticed that early planting and fungicide application has paid off. Some fields have beans which are tough to pick up with the grain head, although most plants appear healthy.

“It seems like it’s only been the blink of an eye and harvest is just about done,” Schaumburg added.

Growers have several tough decisions to make over the winter, such as rents and input costs. Schaumburg hopes everyone gets this figured out for next year.