PEORIA – Good weather has allowed combines to roll, and the Illinois Department of Agriculture says more than three-quarters of the state's corn crop has already been harvested – well ahead of last year's pace.

And farmers in some spots are finding better results than they had expected of corn grown during one of the worst droughts in decades.

In Peoria County, mostly dry days have helped speed the harvest, and farmers are finding a better return than forecast, Patrick Kirchhofer of the Peoria County Farm Bureau told the Journal Star.