The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s crop report for early August confirms that our fields of corn and soybeans are on course to generate good-to-excellent Year 2022 returns for Illinois farmers. For corn, 73% of the field conditions were rated good-to-excellent (51% good, 22% excellent), paced by warm temperatures and, in some regions, drenching late-summer rainfall to bring the corn from silk into dough. For soybeans, 69% of the fields were rated good-to-excellent (50% good, 19% excellent), with 73% of the beans setting pods. All of these figures are as of Sunday, August 14.
The heavy rains of early August have caused some property damage in specific regions of Illinois, including southeastern Illinois. In addition, other regions of Illinois, including the east-central county of Champaign, have reported dry or drought conditions. The overall Illinois crop outcome will continue to be dependent on future weather events as the season moves towards harvest time.