This year’s harvest looks ‘good, but not great’

Published: Sep. 29, 2022 at 6:36 PM CDT
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PEORIA (25 News Now) - It’s that time of year when Central Illinois farmers are spending hours upon hours out in their fields. The fall harvest is underway, so we checked in on how harvest is going so far. Mother nature has provided great weather conditions for harvesting. DeAnne Bloomberg, the Director of Issue Management for the Illinois Farm Bureau, said “What we’re hearing from our leaders across the state and from our county farm bureaus that are represented across the state, things are off to a good start. It’s a slow start, but we’ve had some ideal weather conditions here.”

Jason Lay, a local grain farmer in McLean County, just began harvesting his fields on Monday. Lay said he has done, “Just enough to know how the combines are going to operate, how all the equipment is going to operate. Yields have been decent so far... Probably fairly well in line with what we expected, but too early to tell for sure.”

The weather hasn’t always cooperated this growing season, and that will likely affect the overall yield outcome. Lay added, “It should be good, but I don’t think it’s going to be great. You’ve got to put everything into perspective. What we have endured weather wise since the fourth of July, just a lot of extended dry periods and several cloudy days.” And it all adds up at the end of the day.

Plus, a recent severe weather event led to some crop damage across central Illinois, including on Lay’s farm in Normal. Lay said, “Not too far away from here, like three miles away, documented 85-86 mile an hour winds. Absolutely the worst time for it to happen. The crop was almost mature, so we had to wait. It damaged a lot. It’s as flat as that road.”

And in order to get the crops out of their fields, farmers have to drive their equipment on the roads, so drivers need to be careful. “Anyone that is following farm equipment, it’s the same as the Illinois State Police, don’t get distracted and keep your eyes on the road,” said Bloomberg. Lay added that people should, “Recognize those vehicles, those pieces of equipment and that they move a lot slower. You need space, you time to maneuver them.” Farmers are hoping for continued cooperation from mother nature and for drivers to be patient on the roads.