Growers hope for good finish

GIBSON CITY – Most of Randy Aberle’s crops look good. Now, he’s just hoping to finish the season strong during the home stretch for corn and soybeans.

“I think a lot of us are fairly optimistic on a good crop,” the Ford County farmer said. “We’ll see how the weather plays out as far as grain fill.”

The major rainfall from earlier in the season wasn’t much of an issue for Aberle’s farms. Aberle notes the corn is ahead on growing degree units which means we are still on track for a fairly early harvest. The recent stretch of cool weather will slow down the crop development somewhat.

Jason Webster, who farms northeast of Pontiac, also dodged the heaviest rains earlier this summer. June was a rough month for the Precision Planting research farm in Pontiac which Webster oversees. Two major weather events resulted in around 8 inches total. Now, things are looking dry.

“The last rain that came through here, we were under a half inch of rain so that’s what we’ve been working on here. Fortunately we’ve had cool temperatures – I think that’s saving us,” Webster said.

Webster remains hopeful for heavy corn and really good yields since grain fill weather has been nearly ideal with cool overnight lows.

“We need a rain pretty quick to keep her going,” Webster added.