Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Ogle County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Dry conditions the past few days have allowed many to catch up on planting, with most farmers in the area finished or close to finished. Corn is at about the V2-V3 stage, and soybeans are in the VC stage or still have yet to emerge. Some replants have occurred due to soil crusting.…
Carl Zulauf, an agricultural economist emeritus from The Ohio State University, recently spoke with Todd Gleason University of Illinois Extension farm broadcaster about the age of U.S. farmers.
Zulauf’s farmdoc Daily article, titled “Age of U.S. Farmers: Not a Problem” challenges the common perception that an aging farmer population signifies trouble for American agriculture.
Dispelling the Myth of a Farmer Aging Crisis
Zulauf acknowledges that farmers are, on average, older than the general population.…
Emily Hansen – Commercial Agriculture Educator
LaSalle County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Wet (soil is wetter than normal, local vegetation is healthy)
Some growers were able to take advantage of the nice weather over the weekend and get out in the field. Most corn that was planted earlier is at VE-V1, and soybeans are at VE-VC. There is minimal standing water, but fields remain fairly wet.
Figure 1: Left: soy; Right: corn
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Black cutworms have been observed in traps across the state for the past couple of weeks. Several counties have reported significant moth flights (9 or more moths over a 2-night span). We can use the date of the significant flight to predict potential cutting dates based on degree day predictions.
Based on trap catches in late April and May, many counties in Illinois may start observing feeding, including cutting, as early as this week (Figure 1).…
The weed science program at the University of Illinois invites all weed management practitioners to our annual weed science field tour on Wednesday, June 26 at the Department of Crop Sciences field research location known as the Clem Farm, located at 1114 County Road 1200 East, Champaign. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the tour will start at 9:00 a.m. Preregistration is not required, but please let us know in advance if you will be bringing a large group of participants so we can plan accordingly for meals.…
Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Stephenson County
Soil Conditions: Moderately Wet (soil is damp, standing water may be present in low areas, water bodies are full)
Much like many areas of the state, northwest Illinois has received plenty of rainfall in the past couple of weeks, but there have still been enough dry days that have allowed for decent planting conditions. About 10-15% of fields in this area have visibly emerging corn,…
You can also read this article in Portuguese and Spanish
April temperatures were warmer than normal in Illinois, making the January-April period one of the warmest on record. April was also wetter than normal, and as rains have continued into May, questions about nitrogen (N) losses continue to increase. This concern is greater for fall-applied N, but warm soil temperatures and wet soils have some people talking about the possible need for more N to replace what might have been lost so far.…
Spring moth trapping is one month in and we thank all of the volunteer cooperators for diligently sending in trap counts each week. 
The stormy weather pattern continues to bring north lots of black cutworm moths. Several counties have had significant moth flights. We expect more over the coming weeks.
While black cutworm flights have been steady these past few weeks, the same cannot be said for true armyworm. Trap catches have been low across the state.…
March was relatively warm and dry in Illinois, and corn planting started early: NASS reported that 1% of the Illinois corn crop was planted by March 31, and 2% by April 7. Those are no record-early starts, but it’s rare to have enough planted acreage to report by April 1. Most of the state has had above-normal rainfall for far in April, so we expect limited planting progress in the coming days.
In this article we’ll consider a few nitrogen-related issues to keep in mind as planting progresses in 2024:
Due perhaps to an article in the Ohio State C.O.R.N newsletter this week,…
You can also read this article in Portuguese and Spanish
While statewide precipitation in March averaged 3.21 inches (89% of normal), we saw a clear north-south gradient within Illinois, with totals ranging from half to an inch above normal in the northern part of Illinois to as much as up to two inches below normal in the southern end of the state. April began with above-average precipitation across the state, with 7-day totals averaging almost 2 inches,…