Plenty of variability this season

GIBSON CITY – The jury is still out on both the corn and soybean crops at this point in the season.

John Leonard, who farms near Gibson City, admits this has been a challenging spring with plenty of variability with planting dates, emergence, field conditions and rainfall amounts.

“Timing was really important this planting season,” Leonard told The Central Illinois Farm Network. “It’s hard to pinpoint a particular time that was great.”

The cold and wet conditions earlier in the season led to replanting and delayed emergence. Leonard replanted some of the early planted crops which seemed to struggle coming up but left two-thirds of them. Fields which were pattern tiled did better and were able to be planted in a more timely fashion.

“The bean emergence and stand has been more uniform,” Leonard notes.

Leonard is continuing to post spray his corn and soybeans this week with the favorable weather forecast. He has also been busy replanting a few ponds as more rain fell where he lives southwest of Gibson City. They received over an inch June 10 which refilled some ponds. Other spots didn’t receive nearly as much rain.

“We just have to pick and choose what we need to do in different fields on different farms.”

Since every year is different, Leonard realizes farmers have to be adaptable and willing to change their plans if needed. It can be a test of faith to trust that everything will work out.

“With all of the complexities of the coronavirus and tensions in the last few weeks, you have to keep things in perspective and have faith that we’ll come through okay,” Leonard added.