How are your crops faring this year? What are your hopes for yields? We’re asking growers about what’s really happening in their fields. Click the Feedback From The Field reporting form and give us your first-hand account on conditions and yields.

Use the interactive map below to see all this year’s reports just by clicking the flagged locations. Click the box in the upper left-land corner of the map to bring up an index of what the different colors of the markers signify and to toggle the week’s reports on and off.

Many farmers harvesting 200-bushel corn this year would be pleased as punch. But in Illinois that type of yield can be disappointing, a sign of what looks sure to be the first below normal crops in seven years.

After a growing season that started with floods and included drought in some areas and an October blizzard, yields reported by producers last week weren’t all that different than USDA published in its recent production report. Growers put corn yields at 167 bushels per acre, 1.4 bpa below the government’s assessment. Farmers said soybeans averaged 48 bpa, 1.1 bushels per acre above USDA.

Yield reports from Illinois last week showed just how varied production is. Corn yields in the Land of Lincoln ran from 120 to 215 bpa. Soybeans ranged from 32 to 63 bpa.

“Corn is 40-50 bushels off from 2018 yields,” said a central Illinois farmers with 200-bushel corn. Soybean of 55 bpa were down 20 from a year ago when farmers in the state knocked it out of the park.

While one farmer reporting from Illinois last week was done with soybeans, others were concerned about potential frost ahead of a chilly weekend.

“Early frost will get a lot of beans,” worried anther central Illinois producer whose fields suffered from late planting and then excessive rain through the rest of the season too. “Corn has water damage. Overall, poor crops!”

Further north along the Illinois River another producer was looking at 160-bushel corn and 45-bushel soybeans – when harvest actually begins.

“Nothing going on much in our area,” was the news. “Still wet fields and immature crops are keeping combines in the shed.”

At least the moisture in Illinois wasn’t white. That wasn’t the case in the northwest Corn Belt, where the Dakota blizzard extended into Minnesota.

A grower in Western Minnesota was already disappointed by soybean yields early in the week before the snow started flying. ”We now have 7 inches of snow on top of the already wet conditions,” was the post. “This could be the 1st year that I will not be able to combine the bean crop.”

Follow along with the season by clicking these links:

Feedback from the Field - Oct. 7, 2019 - Too dry, too wet, and just about right

Feedback From The Field - Sept. 30, 2019 - Rain returns as a worry for growers

Feedback From The Field - Sept. 23, 2019 - Farmers report boom or bust yields after challenging year

Feedback from the Field - Sept. 16, 2019 - Adverse weather pushes down yield estimates

Feedback from the Field - Sept. 9, 2019 - Crops improve despite slow development and stress

Feedback from the Field - Sept. 3, 2019 - Crops improve despite slow development and stress

Feedback from the Field - Aug. 19, 2019 - Crops improve but yields lag

Feedback from the Field - Aug. 12, 2019 - Yields are here, there and everywhere 

Feedback From The Field - Aug. 5, 2019 - Farmers worry that yields aren’t there

Feedback from the Field - July 29, 2019 - Crops improve after heat breaks

Feedback from the Field - July 22, 2019 - Blazing heat wilts crops

Feedback from the Field - July 15, 2019 - Hot, dry week stresses soybeans

Feedback from the Field - July 8, 2019 - Crops improve but development lags on late planting

Feedback From The Field - July 1, 2019 - Crops improve but development lags on late planting

Feedback From The Field - June 24, 2019 - Planting woes aren’t only worry for growers

Feedback From The Field - June 17, 2019 - Acres lost to corn prevent plant mount

Feedback from the Field - June 10, 2019 - Judgement time: Take prevent plant or keep going?

Feedback from the Field - June 3, 2019 - Corn planting deadlines pass as farmers ponder what to do

Feedback from the Field - May 28, 2019 - Growers make progress, but at what cost?

Feedback from the Field - May 20, 2019 - Warm, dry week gets growers in the field as crucial benchmarks arrive

Feedback from the Field - May 13, 2019 - Wet is the word for 2019.

Feedback From the Field - May 6, 2019 - Some farmers in western areas make progress but overall planting remains slow.

Feedback From the Field - April 29, 2019 - Farmers in eastern Corn Belt and upper Midwest face delays.

Feedback From the Field - April 22, 2019 - A few wheels turned but most of the Corn Belt is too wet.