BONDVILLE – Rural Bondville farmer Avery Shaw, 78, has been farming since 1956, and he says he hasn't seen anything like the 2009 harvest.

Shaw pointed to his truck, filled to the brim with corn as he was waiting to have it weighed on Monday afternoon.

"That's the best corn crop we've ever raised in our life," said Shaw, who farms about 1,500 acres.

In a typical year, Shaw's combine would reach capacity after completing nearly two passes down a half-mile row of corn.

On Monday the combine reached its capacity after only one and a half passes down the row.

"The yield is better, and the corn is wetter," he said. "We planted later than usual, in the middle of May, and then we had a lot of rain."

Shaw said he typically gets between 160 and 180 bushels of corn per acre. He estimated the corn harvested on Monday was coming in at more than 200 bushels per acre.

Mark Schleusener, deputy director for Illinois field office of the USDA Agricultural Statistics Service, said that, in an average year, 92 percent of the corn in Illinois is harvested by Nov. 9. Last year 78 percent of Illinois corn was harvested by Nov. 9.

By Monday, 31 percent of the corn had been harvested in the state, he said.

Schleusener said that, in an average year, 96 percent of Illinois soybeans are harvested by Nov. 9. Last year, 94 percent of Illinois soybeans were harvested by Nov. 9. By Monday, 69 percent of the Illinois soybean crop had been harvested, he said.

But this isn't the latest Shaw has found himself working in the field.

"One year I remember harvesting corn in January," Shaw said. "The fields got so wet that we had to wait for the ground to freeze."

Michael Bush, location manager for the Rising Farmers Grain Co. in Bondville, said his facility has been open around the clock to accept the farmers' grain and to dry the harvested corn.

"I was here last night from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. weighing and drying corn and loading rail cars," Bush said. "Then I went home, slept for four hours and hurried back here. This is the big push for local farmers."

Bush said area farmers are producing the wettest crop in years.

Bush said the corn his facility got in 2002 had 15.6 percent moisture. This year's corn is averaging 26.5 percent moisture, he said.

"The yields are pretty good, and the corn is coming in wet," Bush said. "The farmers are harvesting grain faster than I can dry it. I've got my dryers operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I only shut down the dryers to clean them."

Bush said wet grain needs to be dried to the proper moisture level to prevent spoilage and mold in storage for long-term keeping and to be better able to ship the grain to the end user.'