Farmers across the country were able to plant a quarter of the corn and soybean crop last week, and that was also the case in states such as Illinois. USDA pegs planting at 78% in Illinois, which is right in line with the five-year average. Soybean planting hit 62% complete, which is now 5 points ahead of the five-year average.
In central Illinois, Blue Mound farmer Alex Head says they are nearly finished with planting after a frustrating start. “We’re pretty much wrapped up. We’ve got about 70 acres left to go,” he says. “It’s just been one of those years again where we kind of had to drive all over the place to find dry dirt. We got rain in one spot, maybe not the other. But yeah, we’re getting down to the end of it.”
Head says the crop has also started to emerge with the warmer weather. As a state, corn emergence in Illinois stands at 48% , with 27% of the soybeans up.
