Waiting for harvest, setting harvest prices in southern Illinois

VENEDY, Ill. — For Eric Brammeier, who farms and owns a crop insurance business, August is about waiting for harvest — and harvest prices to be set.

"We are preparing for wheat sales season and we are getting ready for harvest," he said.

Right now, Brammeier is focusing on the crop insurance side of his business, which in August focuses mainly on wheat.

"The wheat price was set for crop insurance and it's lower than where we started. There might be revenue claims if you have a Revenue Protection policy for wheat. The RP policy is, by far, the most purchased and most used policy for wheat," he said.

Brammeier said farmers should be checking their yields to see if they might have a claim.

"Many farmers have wheat yields that are high enough that they won't have losses, but some who will have some revenue claims. The official harvest price was announced at the beginning of August and they can turn in their revenue claims. They have about 45 days to turn those in," he said.

And also on the topic of crop insurance for wheat, the deadline to purchase crop insurance for the 2024 winter wheat crop is Sept. 30.

"We are going to start setting quotes and running quotes for those policies. That will be the beginning price for the '24 wheat crop, but the sales closing deadline is Sept. 30. That is when you have to have your multi-peril wheat policies in place," Brammeier said.

The region still is recovering from a derecho event on June 29 that damaged both property and crops.

"There was about a three-mile-wide swath, for probably 20 miles or so, where the corn was affected in some way. Basically, the wind went from Route 15 through Freeburg, straight east and right through Washington County, from the east side of St. Clair County all the way through Washington County. It dissipated by the time it got to Jefferson County and the Mount Vernon area," Brammeier said.

Many fields experienced greensnap.

"There was a pretty small area where the greensnap was really bad, but a lot of corn is goosenecked and twisted up and that is going to affect it. The yield is going to be down in those fields," Brammeier said.

As county fair season comes to a close, Brammeier said he has been proud to support the efforts of local youth at those fairs.

"We've been busy at the county fairs, the 4-H animal auctions. We make sure to get there and bid on as many animals as we can. We try to buy a couple and help those folks out. The kids are very appreciative," he said.

Brammeier said harvest in the area probably will start in mid-September.

"Usually, the corn goes first. Harvest will usually start about the third week of September for soybeans. The earliest maturity beans down here are 3.5 to 3.8. Some guys down here plant 105-, 108-day corn. Most of it is 110 to 115 day," he said.

While rains that accompanied the wind in late June and then into July helped revive the crop, Brammeier said more rains will be needed to finish strong.

"Some people have been catching rains and fungicide applications still went on because it rained finally, so we are going to have a crop. Hopefully, it keeps raining enough through the end of the growing season so the corn can finish and not tip back too much. We do expect a little bit of tip back because it was so dry for so long," he said.