In April, the month when farmers begin to plant corn and soybeans, less than a week was suitable for planting. Illinois then saw its third-wettest May and wettest June in state history, forcing many farmers to plant most of their crop in the summer.

“Just about every time these farmers were turning around, they were being hammered with the worst field conditions that they had seen,” Doherty said.

Record spring rain and periods of untimely rain during the fall harvest season forced late harvests across the state. Only 93 percent of Illinois’ corn crop was harvested by the end of November, according to USDA figures, the lowest total in a decade.

“It was probably one of the most stressful growing seasons that most farmers can probably remember,” said state Rep. Dan Swanson, R-Alpha.

Swanson grows about 1,600 acres of corn and soybeans on his farm in western Illinois. He has yet to calculate his yields but predicts “considerably less than what we wanted or needed.”

In 2018, 100 percent of Illinois’ corn and soybeans were harvested by late November, according to the USDA. Swanson said he knows of some farmers in his district who still have crops yet to harvest.