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The
corn borer is a flesh-colored worm with a dark head. We generally
have two generations of the insect each year in our area of the
state. The first generation comes from moths laying eggs on corn
that is in the "whorl" stage, or doesn’t have the tassel
out yet. The moth lays eggs on the underside of a leaf in a cluster
that looks quite a bit like fish scales. These eggs hatch into the
small worms that go through growth stages until they are big enough
to tunnel into the stalk to pupate and eventually come out as moths
to lay more eggs. The second generation goes through the same cycle,
but after the tassels are out on the corn.
Damage
from the European corn borer comes in the form of disrupting the
tissue of the stalk that carries nutrients and water to the ear.
Other forms of damage come from stalks that break over, ears that
drop off and damage to kernels of corn that are eaten or damaged.
Average losses from one borer in a stalk of corn are about five
percent for a first-generation borer and about four percent on
average for the second generation.
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The
sampling currently taking place has been done for many years in
Illinois. The results have shown that the population builds up over
about a six-year period; then, immediately after a peak year, the
population "crashes." The crash is due to natural
predators and diseases that affect the borers when populations reach
very high levels. Some survey years in Logan County have found
fields that have averaged four borers in every plant. Current early
information is showing a higher-than-anticipated population but
still averaging less than one borer per plant. After completion, the
Logan County results will be combined with the rest of the state to
give regional counts as well as county counts.
For
more information on European corn borer, contact the University of
Illinois Extension Office in Logan County at 732-8289.
[John
Fulton]
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Harvest
is just starting to roll in all corners of the county, but elevators
like East Lincoln Farmers’ Grain Cooperative have been preparing
for harvest for several months now. That included building a
much-needed 420,000-bushel bin at the Beason facility. The steel
monstrosity is 90 feet in diameter and 70 feet tall at the eaves.
Why
so large? Hugh Whalen, manager of East Lincoln Farmers’ Grain,
says that the cost for storing a bushel of grain decreases as the
size of the bin increases. Larger bins constructed of steel rather
than concrete are the current trend.
Whalen
says the combination of more acres in production from the Freedom to
Farm Act, along with good yields this year, will increase the
bushels of grain received at county elevators. This is in addition
to a portion of the 1999 crop that has yet to be sold. Demand for
storage at county elevators was so great last year that a lot of
corn was dumped on the ground. Although this can be an effective
temporary solution for storage in a dry fall, it can be very risky
in less-than-ideal weather.
Now
that more storage has been built, East Lincoln's next challenge is
to find harvest help for working the scales and unloading grain at
all five of their locations. East Lincoln Farmers’ Grain locations
in Beason, Atlanta, Lawndale, Johnston siding and Kruger remain open
from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. six days a week and from noon to 5 p.m. on
Sundays from now until the end of harvest, weather permitting.
These
longer hours are appreciated by farmers who are most concerned with
getting their crop out in a timely manner without any major
breakdowns. The elevator can be a big help in achieving the farmer’s
goal by weighing and unloading trucks as quickly as possible.
As
those truckloads of corn or soybeans roll across the scale, a full
weight is recorded and samples are taken to test for moisture and
foreign material like weed seeds, stems and pods. After the truck
unloads it will return to the scale for an empty weight. Gross
bushels on the truck will be calculated. The weight ticket is then
entered into the computer to build a delivery sheet and to figure
the shrink bushels. A delivery sheet indicates the farmer’s name,
landlord’s name and how the grain is to be divided. It also
compiles all of the scale tickets delivered from a farm, average
crop moisture, the net bushels and whether the grain is sold or
stored.
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Grain
harvested early in the season will likely be in the 20 percent
moisture range. Corn to be stored will be shrunk to 14 percent
moisture. Corn applying to contract will be shrunk to 15 percent
moisture.
Most
of East Lincoln Farmers' grain supply is trucked to one of three
markets: ADM and Staley in Decatur, Cargill and ADM in Havana, or
Williams Energy in Pekin. Ethanol is made from corn delivered to
Williams Energy, and Cargill Processing in Bloomington buys soybeans
for processing. Some local corn is shipped by rail to the chicken
farms in Arkansas and Texas.
The
staff at East Lincoln is responsible for finding the best market for
the grain they buy from the farmers. They are on the phone
constantly with the processors and river terminals to see where some
of the grain stored in the elevators can be sold.
It
is up to the farmers to decide what portion of their crop will be
sold, stored at the elevator or stored on the farm.
Beth
Mosier, administrative assistant at East Lincoln, says that
sometimes she is a "sounding board for the farmers."
"Farmers know what they want to do (when it comes to marketing
the crop), they just want someone to listen to them," she says.
Marketing
a crop can indeed be a tricky proposition. East Lincoln Farmers'
Grain provides support via informational and educational seminars,
one-to-one market planning, and a new tool this year, the East
Lincoln Farmers' website.
The
website for East Lincoln Farmers’ Grain (www.elfgrain.com)
has become a valuable resource for many of their patrons since going
online this spring. Updated daily, the site contains information
about the cooperative, a bid page, bulletin board for members, and
links to the Chicago Board of Trade, central region radar and a
drought monitor. Beth says that one of her customers prints out the
closing bids each day and saves them in a binder as a resource for
tracking market trends.
Ultimately
each farmer must synthesize all the information available and
determine a strategy for marketing his/her crop. Even though there
are a lot of risks in the marketplace, farmers can be sure that
their local country elevator is doing everything they can to make
harvest as easy as possible.
[Marty
Ahrends]
Keep
in tune to the progress of Logan County’s bountiful harvest on Lincolndailynews.com’s
Rural Review. In the coming weeks, we will bring you pictures of the
harvesting process as well as what goes on at an elevator in the
heat of the season.
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