Effingham County Projects Highest Per Acre Wheat Yield

BY DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek

The Southern Illinois Wheat Tour projected an average yield of 68.56 bushels per acre based on samples taken from 63 fields on Tuesday. While that would certainly be down from last year’s record average of 79 bushels statewide, it sets up for what should be a pretty good harvest in coming weeks considering the challenging weather conditions this spring.

Tour participants found scattered incidents of armyworm pressure and diseases such as barley yellow dwarf virus and some scab-infected heads but, overall, many were happy with what they didn’t find when it comes to pests.

The top five county yield estimates on the tour are Effingham (90.32 bushels per acre), Fayette (86.61), Hamilton (85), Shelby (84.52) and Macoupin (81). The lowest county average yield recorded on the tour was 45 bushels per acre.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Illinois field office rated the condition of the wheat crop as 55% good to excellent (up 3 points from the previous week), 30% fair and 15% poor to very poor as of May 23. Most of the crop (71%) headed as of that date, slightly behind the average pace.

“With conditions as of May 1, we forecasted the wheat yield in Illinois to be 75 bushels per acre. That’s down four from the previous year’s record-high of 79,” Mark Schleusener, Illinois state statistician with NASS, told FarmWeek on the tour. “We will update that forecast June 10. Before we publish that, we’ll contact a few hundred farmers and send staff into fields (to calculate the estimate).”