Farmers heading into Fall harvest after Summer droughts

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. (WAND) - During the summer months, farmers were battling the brutal heat. Now heading into the fall harvest, those dry temperatures impacted the upcoming season.

"Really what we're seeing is a delay in harvest. We are still a little bit dry," said Bradley Uken, Manager at Champaign County Farm Bureau.

The unbeatable heat resulted in farmers holding off planting. Eventually pushing back the timeline of fall harvest.

"Harvest is just a little bit delayed as we move forward because of planting. Normally a lot of guys would have started 1st of September and we would've seen harvest in full force around that mid-September time frame," said Uken.

Farmers noticed a decrease of production caused by the drought over the summer.

"We found a big reduction in kernel counts when we were doing our tour about a month ago. So now our 're just starting harvest, so we're seeing if that affected it or not," said Jeremy Glauner, merchandiser at Topflight.

However, professionals say with cooler temperatures and wet days, farmers are needing that warmth.

"Well right now as we head into harvest, what we're really looking for is some dry days that have some warmth to it. And th crops can continue to dry down in the field." said Glauner.

Despite a slower yield during the summer, production is starting to look up for farmers.

"We're not deep enough into harvest to really tell. And I did have some indications that early varieties were going to be doing better than full season. but now that we've gotten into a couple more fields I think it's a little better than I had worried about at the end of August and so I'm a little bit excited for our farmers now," said Glauner.

Looking ahead, they say its too early to predict the seasonal outcome, but are hoping for a successful harvest.