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Some farmers in North Central Illinois didn’t catch a break with the weather last year until June, and they had to be quick to take advantage of a rare few days of uninterrupted sunshine to do tillage and planting. Unfortunately, some fields were left unplanted, and many that were planted included areas where work wasn’t possible because of wet spots.
Another wet spring on the horizon? Stressful planting seasons could become routine, hurting Illinois farmers and the economy By Ben Orner Capitol News Illinois SPRINGFIELD — The state’s climatologist is predicting Illinois farmers are likely to endure more burdensomely wet weather while they try to plant cash crops this spring after suffering major losses as a result of a record-wet plant-
ing season last year. April through June is likely to be wetter than normal in Illinois, according to rainfall projections from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, posing a challenge to corn and soybean farmers in the heart of planting season. Right now those farmers are calculat-
ing their losses after suffering through the wettest January to June in state history last year. Wettest of those months was May, which pushed planting of Illinois’ top two crops into June and July, when in an ideal year they’re in the ground in April. The result: Corn and soybean production dropped 18 percent and 20 percent, respectively, according to final yield numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Continued on page 15
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