In recent weeks, corn stalks have turned from bright green to yellow and now to brown – but continuing to stand tall. It’s made it!  

Corn is coming out of fields day and night across Monroe County and surrounding areas, and it is doing so in what is being termed a bumper crop. 

Local farmers are reporting outstanding yields per acre and prices per bushel.  

Farmers are reluctant to confirm bushels per acre. But prices are public, and are pushing $5 a bushel.  

Gateway FS grain originator Phil Saale, who helps farmers bring crops to market in the most efficient manner, said corn is looking “good to unbelievable,” with many farmers  reporting 200 and more bushels per acre.  And it is generally top quality as well.

Saale summed up the positive confluence of events.  

“It’s a combination of the three things every farmer wants: good weather, good yields and finally, good prices.”

He told the Republic-Times that all Gateway FS grain elevators are seeing large deliveries of corn, which in past years have predictably weighed prices down – the supply and demand equation.  

“But prices are remaining stable in the face of high harvest pressures,” he acknowledged.  

One possible reason for stable, high prices for American farmers is weather and economic challenges facing South American agricultural interests from growing to processing.

One area farmer, Rich Guebert, who operates across Monroe and Randolph counties and serves as Illinois Farm Bureau president, said he saw prices climb 12.5 cents per bushel on Monday. Guebert was driving one of two combines he owns, harvesting corn as he talked with the Republic-Times.  

Guebert added, “I need help, now. I need at least one truck driver. Maybe two.”  

Guebert, who said his biggest fears now are equipment breakdowns, said he harvested corn until 10 p.m. Sunday.

 “We only stopped then because our dryer bins were full,” he said.  

Corn is being harvested with moisture content of 20-21 percent and must be dried to 15 percent with propane heaters to take to market. 

 “I am using a truckload of propane a day,” Guebert said.

Bruce Brinkman said his corn harvest is turning out really well.

“It’s the best I’ve ever had,” he assessed.

Adding other harvests recently completed and those still coming this year, he said “it’s a great, great year all around.”  

Brinkman went on to attribute the world’s population growth and stronger economies for supporting prices. 

“More people, especially in Asia, have more money. They want better food, including more protein – and to produce animal protein requires more grains,” he concluded.

Brinkman, who was also starting to harvest soybeans as of Monday, said farming used to be viewed as an area or national endeavor.  

“But today the market is truly international,” Brinkman said. 

He seconded that the benefit American farmers are deriving from problems in the South American region.

In conclusion, corn that was tasseling, with its ears pollinating in July, has made the growth transition to harvest time in September. 

The gold tassels are long gone. The then-emerging white silks have done their jobs – capturing and transmitting pollen from the tassels to each kernel of corn and are now totally blackened.  

The corn cobs – one or two per corn stalk or plant – are full of golden kernels.  And many are already harvested and en route to market. 

This year – a year many will remember as being troubling for a variety of reasons – the farmers are finally winning.