While planting season is underway in Illinois, many farmers have found they are lagging behind last year’s progress. Preliminary reports from the State Climatologist’s office found that Illinois averaged 6.14 inches of rain in April, 1.9 inches above the 1991-2020 average.
While the rain brought needed moisture back into the soil, farmers were left with limited windows to get in the field to plant their crops. Despite feeling behind, Brendan Marshall, Crop Specialist for West Central FS, reminds farmers that pushing planting too quickly can lead to mistakes.
“Everybody wants to compare to a year ago; we were dry, but we were cold. You had a crop that you planted and sat there for a week or 10 days in the cold dirt. Now you can plant it, and if it’s in good conditions, that crop comes up in four or five days,” says Marshall. “I remember wet years in the past, off the top of my head 2019. There was a lot of crops that went in late, but it was all ready to harvest at the same time.”
According to the Crop Progress and Conditions Report released on May 6th, 32 percent of corn and 31 percent of soybeans have been planted in Illinois.
