The 2012 Illinois corn crop will produce a meager 110 bushels per acre, according to the USDA September Crop Production report. Ears per acre, at 24,000, will be “down significantly” compared to recent years and represents the lowest count since the 1990s.

In addition, the report pegged state production of corn for grain at 1.39 billion bushels, down a whopping 29 percent from 2011.

“(Corn production) is going to be off significantly,” confirmed Jeff Brooks, manager of Grainland Cooperative in Eureka. “Yields have been all over the place. Early on, we had a customer with three bushels per acre, and some with over 200 bushels.”

Yields are varying from field to field – or within individual fields – across the state, including Woodford County, where Grainland operates three elevators with a total storage capacity of 10 million bushels.

“Right around the Eureka area we’re seeing better yields than further east in the county, where it drops off in the El Paso area and east of there. That is where we are seeing the lower yields,” Brooks said.

He added that one El Paso-area farmer averaged 90 bushels of corn per acre in a county that perennially ranks in the top 10 for corn production and yields in the state.

Corn condition statewide was rated as 42 percent very poor, 33 percent poor, 18 percent fair and 7 percent good, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Illinois Weather & Crops report of Sept. 17. 

“Corn quality has been fine, and we have not noticed any aflatoxin as of yet. (Kernel) moisture has dropped down into the 23 percent area,” Brooks reported on Sept. 21. “We’re a little over 40 percent done with the corn harvest.

“We thought it was going to be an early season and that we’d be done with the corn harvest by the first of October, but corn plants did take up the moisture and utilize it from the recent rains.”

The September report forecast Illinois soybeans at 309 million bushels, or 37 bushels per acre. As of Sept. 17, soybean conditions were rated at 19 percent very poor, 23 percent poor, 37 percent fair, 19 percent good and 2 percent excellent.

“We haven’t seen a lot of soybeans yet, though the ones we have seen look pretty good. One guy had 42 bushels per acre. A lot of the farmers I’ve talked to are planning to begin harvesting soybeans on (Sept. 25),” said Brooks.

According to NASS, the state corn harvest is moving along rapidly, with 17 percent of the corn harvested as of Sept. 16, but still lags behind the record early pace of 2010 when approximately 21 percent of the crop had been harvested at this same time.

Corn condition is rated 11 percent good to excellent, compared with 34 percent last year at this time. Moisture content of harvested corn is averaging about 23 percent.

Corn yields vary greatly from field to field and even within the same field, as drought-stressed corn has matured at different stages. Preliminary yield estimates for the state show a decrease from last year’s 146 bushels, to 100 bushels an acre.

Many soybean fields are now mature, with 5 percent harvested. Sixty-four percent of the soybean acreage is shedding leaves, compared to 34 percent last year.

The agronomists at Beck’s Hybrids offer a ballpark check of losses. For ear corn, one ear lost per 1/100th of an acre equals 1 bushel lost per acre. For shelled corn, 2.5 kernels lost per square foot equals 1 bushel lost per acre.

For soybeans, 4 beans per square foot lost equals 1 bushel lost per acre.

A bright spot in the fall harvest is the excellent final cutting of alfalfa. Late-season rains spurred growth for the hay and helped pasture condition rebound from scorching conditions in July and August.