It’s spring and in Clinton County, IL that means it’s planting season. Farmers in southwest Illinois continue to work during the COVID-19 crisis. Our farmers may have started planting as early as April 1for corn or April 15 for soybeans. They may continue the spring planting work until early June for corn and as late as about June 20 for soybeans.
As you drive our country roads you may encounter tractors – BIG tractors – with sprayers and seeders following along. There may be even be more farmers following along with their pick-up trucks loaded with bags of seed. So during this season, caution is needed when traveling on all of our roads. The Illinois Department of Transportation has guidelines for drivers approaching or following a slow moving farm vehicle. Most of these rules are simple common sense but to review them, check page 46 of this document. Farmers also have special traffic rules to follow. 
Agriculture is very important to our local economy. In fact, in 2019, statistics showed that Clinton County had more milk cows than any other county in Illinois. When you have to feed 12,300 head of milk cows, it requires a lot of land to grow corn and hay to satisfy hungry milk cows! In 2019, Clinton County farmers used 87,100 acres of farmland to produce 13,112,000 bushels of corn. But not all the corn was used for feed, some was used to produce fuel!
All of our agricultural products and producers will be celebrated at the Clinton County Fair held in Carlyle July 13 through July 20, 2020. Some of the events held at the fair are Tractor Pulls. Antique tractors and new, modified tractors can be seen in action during fair week. So if you cannot travel to Clinton County during planting season, plan to visit our rural area this summer to enjoy the Fair and all that Clinton County has to offer.