Fall harvest underway in West Central Illinois; hot and dry western weather pushing up prices
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By DAVID CAMPHOUSE
The beginning of the 2022 fall corn and bean harvest in West Central Illinois is aligning almost exactly with the end of summer and the beginning of fall.
According to a Facebook post by farmer and Pike-Scott Farm Bureau Director Jeremy Thomas, his family’s farm began harvesting corn on Monday, Sept. 19. Fall officially begins on Thursday, Sept. 22.
“And so it begins,” Thomas’s Facebook post read, accompanying a photo taken from the cab of a combine. “First day of Harvest 2022.”
While high temperatures and low moisture presented significant challenges for row crop farmers outside of our region, Jeremy Thomas’s brother, Jason Thomas, said that corn and bean farmers in West Central Illinois benefitted from relatively good weather conditions.
In fact, the poor conditions in other areas are pushing commodity prices up, benefitting local farmers.
“You don’t wish something bad on anybody else,” Jason Thomas said. “It takes something like that, though, to keep prices up. They’re having a bad year out there in Nebraska and Texas – it kind of all burnt up. The harvest is not like they thought it was going to be.”
Jason Thomas said that the corn harvest was going well this week.
“So far, so good,” Thomas said.”It’s still a smidge wet yet, but looking good. We’ll start on the beans later this week or next week.”
Thomas indicated that corn yields that had been harvested so far indicated a very favorable year.
“One field in front of the house was 255 bushels per acre,” Thomas said. “That’s really, really good, but some of the neighbors have said they’re not doing quite that good.”
Average closing 2022 prices for corn and soybeans have surpassed previous historic highs seen in 2012.
Submitted photo
Pike County farmer Jeremy Thomas, who farms south of Pittsfield, documented the beginning of his family’s corn harvest on Monday by posting a photo on Facebook from the cab of his combine. Compared to many areas of the country, West Central Illinois enjoyed relatively good weather conditions throughout the growing season, and farmers stand to benefit from relatively high yields and historically high corn/bean prices.
