Warmer weather means more days suitable for fieldwork in western Illinois. Throughout April, farmers took advantage of warm weather pockets to start to get seeds into the ground. Pioneer agronomist Brad Mason says that with the warmer weather, farmers are starting to see some early planted crops start to emerge.
“I just looked at a field that was planted April 12 that you could start to row the corn. It was pretty exciting to see it come up in such a short window given the fact that we’re planting in early April,” says Mason. “A lot of times we plant in early April, we kind of just pencil in 20 days before we’re going to see that crop pop up because we historically have seen cooler weather. But, with the heat, we did see that corn come up pretty quick.”
Mason adds that coming into April, rain has helped recharge fields, but they are still on the drier side.
