How would you describe the 2017 growing season? Epic? Biblical? Thanks to floods, drought, off-target dicamba injury, Japanese beetles and more, agronomists like Karen Corrigan, McGillicuddy Corrigan Agronomics, are ready to put 2017 in the rearview mirror. 

“I’ve never hated a season more in 20 years,” Corrigan says. (Read more of Corrigan’s take on 2017.)

The good news? Yields, for the most part, were pleasantly surprising. University of Illinois Extension agronomist Emerson Nafziger has experienced enough growing seasons to know you never give up on the crop too soon. “When the Aug. 1 forecast came out, everyone said there’s no way that can be true,” he notes. “But if you looked at the crop, kernel numbers were good, and the canopy was holding up.”

As September forecasts and harvest numbers rolled in, yield doubts began to fade.

By Nov. 9, the USDA crop report forecast a 198-bushel-per-acre average for Illinois corn — up a bushel from 2016 — and 58 bushels for soybeans, which was down 1 bushel from 2016. While harvested corn acres are down, overall production — forecast at 2.19 billion bushels — could be a record-breaker. Soybean production could hit record levels if the projected 611 million bushels becomes reality.

For sure, not every farmer harvested record-breaking yields.

Kelly Robertson, a certified crop adviser from southern Illinois, says a few drops of rain went a long way this year. “One farmer told me he had a 100-bushel swing in corn yields, from his best to worst,” he says. “Those fields are a mile and a half apart.”

As farmers lock in 2018 crop plans, here is a look back at the 2017 highs and lows from Twitter.

#plant17

In many areas, #plant17 turned into #replant17.

Nafziger says April rainfall was about 3 inches more than the 30-year average, and the first half of May was wet.

Start, stop, repeat was the name of the game for #plant17.

As the season progressed, a new issue appeared in soybean fields that pitted neighbors against neighbors and companies against university Extension: off-target dicamba damage. Where did it come from? How did it happen? In many cases, farmers had more questions than answers, which is why new EPA requirements for 2018 include training and extensive record keeping.

 #dicamba

For more on #dicamba, click here.

Off-target dicamba damage wasn’t the only headline news in July. Many areas in Illinois went from too much moisture to not enough. In southern Illinois, Robertson says two brief rain events saved the crops lucky enough to be in the right spot. “Even though they weren’t big rain events, they made the crop,” he says, adding that the rain was scattered, at best.

Southern rust made an earlier-than-usual appearance at the end of July.

Then, Japanese beetles came back with a vengeance.

The rain that plagued planting season was nowhere to be found in August and September, when Nafziger says rainfall trended below the 30-year average. September rainfall totaled less than an inch, which is about 3 inches short of the norm.

In October, just as farmers hit their harvesting stride, rain delays became the norm.

#harvest2017

Despite the starts, stops, ups and downs, farmers finally closed the book on 2017.

How did the crops survive Mother Nature’s gauntlet? Nafziger credits genetics and breeding for more stress-tolerant hybrids and varieties. “The plants have better root systems that can get into the soil and tap into the water supply,” he says. “The crop is more capable of tolerating stress — like drought.”

A cooler-than-average August, when Nafziger says soybean yields are made, reduced crop stress and delayed maturity, lengthening the filling period. September brought a warm, dry period that helped put a good finish on the crop.

The other key factor? Sunshine. The shortage of rainfall in June and August translated into sunnier days. “That was a big part of the story for 2017,” Nafziger says. “In every month — June, July and August — sunshine was above normal.”