The fall harvest has moved into full swing across South Central Illinois. It appears the harvest across northern Marion County is better than in the Centralia area which received less rainfall during the latter part of the growing season. Russell Vandeveer of Natures Acres north of Salem says all the corn is ready to come out of the field and many bean fields are ready for harvest as well. "So far itlooks likeeveryone is working ontrying to getthe corn crop harvested and they have done it with a pretty rapid pace with the nice weather we've hadthe last week. I think people are now getting into the soybean harvest also and it's going to slow up the corn pace a little bit because people are going to switch and try and get their soybeans out," Vandeveer said. "If it does happen to rain, it would probably be a little bit of a blessing because itis gettingpretty dry and I've noticethere have been several combine fires." Vandeveer is averaging 35 to 45 bushels an acre for soybeans and 125 to 135 bushels per acre for corn. That's down 10 to 15 bushels per acre for soybeans and 25 to 50 bushels per acre for corn from last year's near perfect weather and record crop. Considering the dry weather the second half of summer, Vandeveer is happy with the results. The harvest numbers aren't as good in the Centralia area, where Larry Juenger at the Maco Elevator shares some early yield results. "Beans are averaging 33 to 35 bushelsan acre, which most of my growers are happy withthat considering the conditions. The corn, we've gotten in 110 to 120 bushels per acre. We knew going in the corn was going to be a disappointment, so that is pretty well what we expected," Juenger said. Both Juenger and Vandeveer say there is still plenty of time to complete the harvest. - http://goo.gl/ggNRn
