Agronomist sees 'good' crops

DECATUR –A technical agronomist for DeKalb/Asgrow says we have a good, but not great, crop out there this year.

“We’ll see some high-yielding fields then there’ll be others that are a little more modest,” explained Lane Tarochione at last week’s Farm Progress Show.

There will likely be quite a bit of variability based on planting date and weather patterns. Tarochione expects little harvest activity in Illinois before mid-September. A few fields may have been harvested, but those fields likely had health issues where the plants died early in highly stressful situations.

“Guys are even having a hard time finding corn dry enough to chop for silage,” Tarochione said.

Some earlier soybean varieties are starting to yellow, although most parts of the state are around a month or so away from soybean harvest. Tarochione has seen fields with excess pods and more that appear to be closer to average. SDS levels are low and the crop health is good. It could be difficult to see extremely high soybean yields this fall, although Tarochione remains optimistic.

Tarochione covers west central Illinois, which includes an area stretching all the way from Bloomington to Iowa.