cropCENTRAL | Field Crop Production Resources

Steve Brand – Commercial Agriculture Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
We have caught a very nice break from severe weather and storms, with some pleasant temperatures to boot, as we begin to enter the home stretch of the growing season. Corn fields across northern Illinois are starting to fire, while soybean fields continue to stay green and produce large pods and seeds.…

by Trent Ford, State Climatologist
ISWS PRI University of Illinois
We had a lovely weather week, seemingly rare for this year. Average temperatures this week ranged from the mid-60s in northern Illinois to high 70s in southern Illinois, between 1 and 4 degrees below average. Lower humidity allowed for some very comfortable overnight temperatures, and even a few – dare I say – nippy early mornings. Some of the more impressive nighttime low temperatures this week included 49 in Elgin and 51 in Danville.…

The following is a summary of the WILLAg.org content from the work week ending August 21, 2026. WILLAg.org is a partnership of Illinois Public Media and University of Illinois Extension. Its mission is to distribute regionally, nationally, and internationally information and analysis of commodity markets and agricultural weather.
Agricultural Markets Synthesis
Throughout the week, agricultural commodity markets experienced a counter-seasonal rally supported by evidence of potentially lower corn yields relative to earlier USDA forecasts, but primarily driven by late-season demand for U.S.…

You can also read the article in Portuguese and Spanish
Weather and crop condition
Planting and emergence of the 2026 Illinois corn crop began a little earlier than normal, and overall average temperatures this summer have kept crop development near a normal pace (Figure 1). Rainfall and temperature fluctuations in late April and early May resulted in uneven emergence and stands in some fields, while repeated rainfall events during June caused flooding and prolonged periods of saturated soils across much of the state.…