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Introduction
Recent dust storm events in central Illinois and across the Midwest have renewed attention on soil conservation, especially after the tragic May 2023 event near Springfield that caused an 80-vehicle pileup, eight fatalities, and dozens of injuries. These incidents highlight that soil loss is not only an agronomic issue but also a public safety and environmental concern. Reduced tillage and cover crops are well-established practices to reduce wind and water erosion,…

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Introduction
There is a growing interest in wheat/soybean double-cropping systems in Illinois, extending into parts of central Illinois where wheat acreage has been limited in recent decades. USDA-NASS survey estimates that 60-80% of Illinois wheat acres are double-cropped with soybeans. Implementing this system in central and northern Illinois has been constrained primarily by low wheat acreage and by later wheat harvest, which often delays soybean planting until early to mid-July.…

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While August rainfall is the “soybean maker,” July rainfall is also important to the podsetting process that sets up yield potential. July rainfall was plentiful overall in Illinois, but varied from an inch or two less than normal in parts of southern Illinois to more than twice normal amounts in western and northwestern Illinois. In contrast, August rainfall was less than normal over all but the northern edge of the state,…

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The Illinois corn crop got off to a good start in 2025, with good stands and good canopy color, aided by warm (after a cool spell in late May) and dry conditions in June. Still, crop ratings have been average so far, similar to those in the previous five years except for 2023, when very low June ratings rebounded after rainfall. On August 10,…

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2025 crop progress
Despite intermittent delays in southern Illinois and replanting in some areas, the 2025 planting season has largely tracked the 5-year average of 2020-2024. The winter wheat development lagged through May, but picked up in June, with harvest progress similar to recent years. That meant normal doublecrop soybean planting progress.
Corn crop ratings improved through June, rising from 63% good + excellent (G+E) on June 2 to 74% by June 22,…

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Dry conditions in northern and central parts of Illinois allowed for a relatively early start to planting this year; the first NASS report of planting was soybeans at 1% on April 6. Soybean planting stayed ahead of corn planting through April, with 22% of soybeans and 16% of corn planted by April 27. By May 4, planting progress was nearly even—33% for soybeans and 32% for corn.…

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The first half of April has been a little cooler than normal, with a very wide range in rainfall totals, from an inch or more below normal in northwestern Illinois to 6-8 inches above normal in south-southeastern Illinois. There is some rain in the forecast over the next week, but some progress in fieldwork and planting is likely. While it’s too early to consider planting in wet soil,…

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The month of March in Illinois was 4-5 degrees warmer and 1-2 inches lower in precipitation than normal. At Champaign, 170 growing degree days (GDD) accumulated in March, and less than 2 inches of rain fell from March 10 through the end of the month. The dry weather had fields in some places dry enough to work and plant around the middle of March,…

If we were to look at the records of planting date and weather from 2024 without knowing the yields, we might not guess that corn yield beat and soybean tied previous yield records for Illinois. Here, we’ll take a quick look at the 2024 growing season, and consider whether we might apply lessons from it as we manage crops in 2025.
Growing season weather and crop conditions
Illinois weather was on its usual rollercoaster in 2024: February was dry,…