Crop Production

Steve Brand – Commercial Agronomy Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Moderately Dry (soil is dry, plants may be browning or stressed, water bodies are low)
Another week, more beautiful and perfect weather for outdoor activities. More notably, another week of little to no rain as we continue to progress into an early summer drought. Most of northern Illinois would be considered to be in a D1 moderate drought as of now.…

Steve Brand – Commercial Ag Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
This will be a quick report as there is not too much to report since last week. Most fields have emerged in both corn and soy. I’ve seen fields for corn varying from about to emerge to V2 pushing V3. Soybeans are in a similar boat between emerging in fields to 2nd trifoliate.…

Steve Brand – Commercial Agronomy Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
Overall, planting is close to finished across more of northern Illinois. Field work over the last 2 weeks has been non-stop, and most fields I saw were either planted or just beginning to emerge, whether that was corn or soybeans. After a wild and wet April, May has been very dry and unusually cool,…

Russ Higgins – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Grundy County
Soil Conditions: Near Normal
A favorable week for field work in the region. Many corn and soy fields were planted, and operations continue in the area. Earlier planted corn appears to be emerging with a slight advantage to soy. This week we will be starting the aphid suction collection trap in Morris, part of the Suction Trap Network that will be monitored through October.…

Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Stephenson County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Field work and planting have been ongoing once fields dried enough following the significant rainfall events experienced in the area in mid-April. Although two weeks ago we experienced a number of uncharacteristically warm days, the weather this week continues to vary as some days have been relatively warm, but many nights have been relatively cool,…