Here in central Illinois, we have had over ten days of open, dry harvest weather. This has been great for farmers wanting to get their crops harvested. However, this is leading to overly dry crops, especially soybeans harvested at moistures less than 10 percent moisture. It is an unfortunate situation leading to yield reduction due to moisture shrink.

Another issue popping up is "weak" stalks in areas where corn plants were stressed this summer. Remember if more than one in 10 corn stalks breaks over when pushed toward the next corn row (push test), then that corn field should be at the top of your field harvest list due to standability issues.

I am seeing a lot of late-season pod feeding in soybeans, right now. Bean leaf beetles, grasshoppers and stinkbugs, are really attacking the green areas in later maturing soybean fields. Speaking of stinkbugs, I am noticing increasing numbers of brown marmorated stinkbugs (BMSB) in soybean fields this season. This is another invasive species with no known natural enemies which has become a soybean pest problems in other parts of the country.

My recent "Outstanding in the Field" podcast talks about current crop conditions, combine safety, and continuing dry conditions.