At The Farm Gate

December 2009



Christmas corn, combine wreaths



By Joanie Stiers



I bet my Christmas stocking that a farmer somewhere in Illinois hangs a wreath on his combine.



Harvest of the state’s two major row crops will progress into December this year, delaying holiday preparations and narrowing the opportunity to prepare fields for next year’s crop before winter. Harvest began when it often ends, so I wasn’t surprised to hear a farmer’s intention to withhold the Christmas tree until harvest concluded. I suppose we could attempt Christmas lights on corn shocks.



Continued delays from wet weather and immature crops have led to record-setting slow harvests – the second slowest for soybeans and third slowest for corn since the state began keeping track. Crop farmers have experienced this year’s challenges before, but never in a single growing season. Farmers remember the flood of 1993 and the drought of 1988. They also will remember the weather and economic frustrations of 2009.



Farmers planted in a wet spring; monitored crops in a cool, disease-prone summer; and now attempt to harvest wet, immature crops of varying yields in a moist fall. The icing on this cow-pie of a season: farmers faced record-high costs on everything from seed and fertilizer to land rent to grow a crop that university experts predict will post a loss.



The general public confronted a dreary economy and the weather’s adversity, too. The wet spring challenged most basements. Summer’s cloudy, cool-temp days decreased pool attendance. And the dry, leaf-jumping days of fall were limited. But any kid longing for a pre-Christmas snow day needs to head north to find it, as well as to avoid a farmer-led lecture on its impact to standing crops.



Most of rural Illinois also must deal with this year’s harvest inconveniences. Vehicles will pass through more trails of mud than usual near field entrances. Drivers more often will meet large, slow-moving farm equipment in the dark, now that daylight hours have shortened. And the relentless hum of grain dryers may backup Christmas carolers, as the equipment attempts to dry a high-moisture crop.



Farmers often complete harvest around Halloween, and they almost definitely expect the combine in storage by Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, the cab will hold the aroma of leftover turkey and dressing. It likely will see some Christmas cookies, too. If conditions turn more adverse, some farmers may harvest into next year, bar the new-year confetti.



Before then, some Christmas spirit may be displayed in the corn field. If not, I’m out a stocking-full of Andes mints and gift cards.