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Corn fields near Royal, Illinois. Author: Daniel Schwen. Licensing: GFDL. Original cropped.

What about a flexible cash rent lease

In August, my office phone lights up with calls from farmland owners wanting to know about the direction of cash rent values for farms here in east-central Illinois. This is never easy to answer because no one can accurately forecast the future. Currently, we are looking for average to above yields...
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Young corn plants in the field

Spring weather affecting crops, markets

If you have been watching cornfields in Central Illinois, you may have noticed that the young corn plants have changed colors over the past couple of weeks. In late April, the small corn plants were green in color and two weeks later these same plants are pale yellow-green. On April 26, the 4-inch...
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Pile of stored grain corn

Farmers, have you checked your stored grain lately?

Stored grain should be kept at or near 35°F according to the experts. But over the past month in Central Illinois, the average daily temperature has varied 44°F – from a high daily average of 52° F to a low of 8°F. Moisture in a filled grain bin moves from the warmed grain near the outside wall to...
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Zero Tolerance - Pigweed Weed Species

Two particularly troublesome pigweeds are Tall Waterhemp and Palmer Amaranth, which have and are continuing to develop resistance to herbicides. In Illinois, Tall Waterhemp is resistant to 6 different classes of herbicides and Palmer Amaranth is resistant to 3. If that is not bad enough, members of...
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Cutting Crop Costs, Not Profits

According to university farm economists across the Midwest, 2019 is the year where farmers need to scrutinize their crop expenses, and see where they can cut costs to improve their net return per acre. Currently, the projected fall prices for corn and soybeans are mid-$3's and mid-$8's,...
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