Corn growers across Illinois and the rest of the nation's midsection appear to have finally gotten their crops in the ground after an uncooperative, storm-prone spring left them weeks behind schedule.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's weekly crop progress report shows 95% of the nation's corn crop had been sown as of Sunday.
Some 85% of that crop has emerged, up 11 percent from the previous week.
But it still falls short of a year ago, when virtually all of the newly planted corn already had broken through the ground.
Farmers now largely are turning their full attention to soybeans.
71% percent of that effort is done nationwide, a 14% improvement from a week earlier.
A year ago, 88% of the soybeans were in the ground.