Plenty of crop variability

MERNA – The crops in Danny Wilson’s fields look alright when driving by in a vehicle, but there is quite a bit of unevenness present.

The farmer from the Merna area of McLean County believes compaction is showing up more and more as his crops move along. Wilson describes the spring as something he has never seen before.

“The word prevent plant was never in our vocabulary until this year and I never thought about it,” Wilson said.

Wilson was lucky enough to get most of his crops in the ground except for a couple of spots which would not dry out.

Dave Griffin farms in the northern part of the state near Sparland and has also observed plenty of crop variability out in the field.

“The corn is looking pretty good but the beans are probably the most variable,” Griffin said.

Griffin predicts a harvest season surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday this year due to the late planted crops in his part of Illinois. Around 95 percent of crops got in the ground in Griffin’s area.

“It was probably one of the toughest springs that I’ve ever experienced from the standpoint of planting and trying to get the seeds in the ground.”

Griffin has been farming for 30 years and worked as a chemical engineer for 40 years while farming on the side, calling it a “process.”