Planting Progress
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Partners & Friends,
Last week was productive for planting. We completed soybean planting on Friday and are about 25% done with corn. We are intentionally cautious with corn planting due to the cold temperatures and low soil temps. This week looks to be cloudy and rainy, so after the 1 inch of rain we received over the weekend, there probably won't be much fieldwork happening. We are caught up with spraying all the planted fields for weed control. We have some maintenance and equipment tasks to address, as the week of fieldwork highlighted any issues that need attention. Fortunately, there were very few problems. Both the equipment and our team performed quite well.
Things are still messy in DC, with new and conflicting information coming out each day. Weather forecasters have determined that Illinois now has two more days favorable for tornadoes than in the past. Our April to October precipitation trend is +2.5", minimum temperatures in Illinois are +2 degrees since 1970, and our maximum temperatures are unchanged. There is some climate change, but no evidence of global warming. Longer-term trends of climate change actually favor Illinois agriculture.
The FFA chapter banquet was a week ago—two Hess girls received certificates. Harper is the Chapter Treasurer. We attended the estate sale for Phyllis' Aunt Luan last Saturday; there was a nice crowd and perfect weather. It wasn't raining, and there was no wind. We had a blessed Resurrection weekend celebrating our risen Savior.
Fall Prices:
Corn: $4.35
Soybeans: $9.80
Enjoy springtime!
Steve