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S Illinois | We may need to qualify the sands you are talking about. Many people probably think of thinner beach sand. But a lot of those sands/loams up there have PI ratings of 130+ and have rated corn yields of 185+(2000-2009 average yields). I am not familiar if you have black sands, but anything over 130 is good dirt. For reference S IL white dirt is usually around 100 PI and corn yield between 130 and 150. Also there is a significant amount of black prairie soil.
There is a significant amount of lower productivity sand up there also (Marshan Loam-corn yield rating 163, Dickenson sandy loam-corn yield rating 142) but this is as high or higher rated as most dirt south of I-70. The other wild card is irrigation. Irrigation on non-beach sand(if the water table is decently high) can really drive high yields especially with the cooler weather experienced that far north.
Edit: In 2012, Whiteside averaged 140bu/acre. I haven't looked back at every year, but that had to be the lowest yield in the last 10 years. The couple of year I did look up had yields 195+ year in and year out.
Edited by w1891 7/5/2020 22:19
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