Lots of Rain Early...Not Enough Now

I belong to a weather forecast discussion group and something interesting in my latest of emails caught my attention.  It had to do with the early harvest of the soybean and corn crop, especially in central and east-central Illinois.  So I decided to give my dad, who was a local farmer for many years, a call and talk a little farming with him.  I'm sure many of you remember that this spring was above average for precipitation.  With the exception of May, the period from April through July was a wet one which initially many saw as a good sign.  Despite the flooding rains back in July, many thought this was going to be an excellent year for soybeans and corn.  August, however, was a dry and warm month. We actually fell over 2 inches below our average for rainfall.  Because of that, the beans are already starting to turn.  Typically farmers don't tend to get in the fields to harvest soybeans until the first week in October - corn is usually a little sooner.  With this dry and warm weather the yield is actually expected to be about 10%-20% below what was first thought back in the beginning of August. 

Now while the corn has suffered some, especially the areas that were flooded, the grain is a little drier which would actually cut back on the drying costs once harvested.  Last year it took a long time to dry because of the wet grain.  So while the corn crop might not be an excellent one, it should still be relatively good!