2019 fall farm

2019 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine Lincoln Daily News Nov. 1, 2019 Page 7 T his was the year many thought there might not be a crop. The reverse of the Dust Bowl, and a year like no other in recent history when too much rain kept farmers from getting into their fields. Exiting winter months, Illinois was in a mild drought stage. The season ahead was a gamble few might have anticipated. Drought was soon a forgotten concern as rain after rain saturated grounds from April up to July. Farmers looked each day, as well as at the extended forecast, for the best time to enter the field. It is a narrow window of about six ideal condition days to plant in a normal spring. In addition to following insurance rules that do not allow too early planting due to potential young plant freeze, soils temps and moisture are determinants as to when to plant. As the season progresses it becomes a race against time for crops to reach maturity and against insurance regulated plant-by dates. This year heavy rains filled the standard planting time frame and kept fields saturated. Soggy fields pose a couple immediate problems: heavy equipment more readily compacts soil, and seed may rot. Continued wet conditions and flowing water may also affect nutritional needs of growing plants. In July, the trend changed, both corn and soybean plants quickly made up for the late start. If you look close at the photos you can see that most fields have some lower areas and those small to large patches failed. Seemingly, the yields at harvest reflect the loss of those plants. There were also scattered fields that could not be planted this year. May 1, 2019 Plenty of rain has fallen regularly since just before planting season began with several heavy rains causing creeks to flood nearby fields. Some of those fields would recover enough to produce a partial crop by harvest. Story and photos by Jan Youngquist Continue 8 The Year that almost wasn’t Pictorial