Planting progress...

We have had an extremely busy week since my last update.  Last Monday afternoon we were able to resume our field operations and worked continued an entire week through Monday evening, May 20th.  I am happy to report that we covered a lot of our corn acres and are now down to the final 20% to be planted.  We even got a few acres of soybeans planted on our North farms while we waited on farms further South to dry out.  It was the fastest we have ever planted the bulk of our corn crop.  Many late nights and early mornings were put in by all the owner's and employees and for that we are extremely grateful.  The warm temperatures have given our newly planted corn a jump-start and within six days of planting the corn was emerging from the soil.  The same was true for the soybeans we planted.  Rains Monday evening totaling 1.5" will keep us out of the fields for a little while.  The forecast looks wet for the next 7-10 days which may push us back into June.  Our area continues to be one of the wettest in Central Illinois, but many farmers have made significant progress in the past week.  While we don't have all our corn planted yet, we are very thankful for what we were able to get in the ground last week.

Planting no-till corn at the Lehmann Farm 

Dad adding extra bags of seed to finish out the Martin farm

Soybeans emerging six days after planting on the Elkhart farm