2019 fall farm

Page 4 2019 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine Lincoln Daily News Nov. 1, 2019 “The year that almost wasn’t” By John Fulton, Special Ag Consultant W hat a year of ups and downs! This statement could be talking about the expectations of producers, or the precipitation. From the period of March to June, I recorded almost 20 inches of rain. On top of the amount, the number of rain events during the period kept things – well, wet. Living in the northern half of the county, my rainfall paled by comparison to some in the southern part. Instead of the recent tradition of planting in April and early May, most of our acres were planted in the latter parts of May and into June. Along comes July, and less than two inches fell at our place, and it was rather hot as well. Due to many acres being planted much later than normal, pollination happened to coincide with the hot weather for many. Many producers wrestled with the option of taking prevented plant payments through the Federal Crop Insurance Program. June 5th was considered the last planting date for full coverage under Federal Crop, and a late planting window with a percent-a- day reduction in coverage between June 6 and June 25 also existed. After much head scratching, and some limited breaks in the weather, most acres were planted in Logan County. A prominent example from the University of Illinois FAST program showed prevented plant coverage returning $368 per acre (not including land costs) and planting corn on June 6th returned $335 under the same scenario. Of course there are always other considerations, such as the $76 per acre payment from the Market Facilitation Program (basically a calculated offset caused by tariffs) only payed on planted acres. Northern Illinois and states to the east had many more acres of prevented plant. The agriculture industry remains busy looking for ways to supplement income for producers and processors. Corn and soybeans have been predominant in central Illinois for many years, and will continue to be in the foreseeable future. Continue 8