Farmers Reporting Progress in Crop Harvest in Past Week – WIFR

Farmers throughout the Midwest have been dealt a rough hand in 2019, with those in Illinois having been particularly unlucky. That's why a week-long dry spell was received by farmers with open arms, as it allowed many to make some rather significant progress in harvesting their corn and soybean crops.

Nationwide, 30% of the corn crop has been harvested as of Sunday. That's up from 22% a week ago, but down from 48% this time last year and the 47% average since 2014. In Illinois, more significant progress was made last week, but the disparity between this year's harvest and the five-year average remains extremely high. 36% of Illinois farmers' corn crop has now been harvested, up significantly from last week's 23% figure. But, considering that by this time last year 80% had been harvested, and that, on average, since 2014, 70% was harvested by this time, there's still a lot of work left to be done. In Wisconsin, just 7% of the corn crop has been harvested, well behind last year's 29% pace.

There's been much more significant progress in the soybean harvest in the past week. Nationwide, 46% of the soybean crop has been harvested, up from 26% last week, and just slightly behind last year's 51% pace by this time. Compared to the five-year average, farmers are still running rather far behind the 64% pace, but another dry week could allow them to close that gap.

In Illinois, there's been tremendous progress as well! According to the USDA, 52% of the Illinois soybean crop has been harvested, nearly double the 27% that had been harvested as of last week. It's not all that far off from the five-year average of 68% by this point in the season. In Wisconsin, farmers are faring awfully similar compared to last year, with 32% of the 2019 soybean crop harvested, as opposed to the 34% harvested by this time in 2018.

Overall, the pattern over the coming week is likely to be a fairly dry one for most of the Midwest, offering farmers continued optimism for ample time to continue their harvest before the weather takes a turn for the much colder as November arrives.

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Farmers Reporting Progress in Crop Harvest in Past Week - WIFR