Central Illinois farmers face severe drought with low yields for harvest season
Rainfall has been below average in recent months, according to Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford.
Tag: harvest season
USDA designates Champaign & Vermilion counties as primary natural disaster areas
After severe droughts in July and August, the U.S. Department of Agriculture designated Champaign and Vermilion counties as primary natural disaster areas. With that announcement, farmers with 30% crop loss, can apply for low-interest, emergency loans. This can help replace equipment or refinance certain debts. John Gehrke heads the loan program at the USDA Illinois
Midwest farmers are on track for a record-high harvest, despite a year of extreme weather
GIBSON CITY – In August, nine inches of rain dumped on one of Randy Aberle’s fields of corn and soybeans near Gibson City, Illinois. “We had some areas in those fields that the water was four feet deep,” he says. Luckily, he says, those fields have enough slope that the water drained off within a