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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,…

Steve Brand– Commercial Agriculture Specialist
Grundy and DeKalb Counties
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
Another dry week for northern IL with a few isolated storms occurring further west or in Chicago. We have slid back into a predominantly D1 drought, with large areas of Kane and Will County entering into a D2 drought. Corn and soybeans have started to grow out of the early season stunting,…

July 16 – Orr Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center Field Day
July 23 – Monmouth Field Day
July 24 – Ewing Demonstration Center Field Day
July 25 – Hemp Research Open House

Orr Agricultural Research and Demonstration Center Field Day
Event Date: Wednesday, July 16, All Day
Location: 37804 State Highway 104, Baylis, IL 62314
Sponsor: Department of Crop Sciences, University of Illinois
Contact Name: Luke Merritt
Contact E-Mail: lukem@illinois.edu
EVENT DETAILS:
To be guaranteed a meal,…

Kathryn Seebruck – Commercial Agriculture Educator
Winnebago County
Soil Conditions: Mildly Dry (soil is drier than normal, plant growth may have slowed)
Across much of the area, there are entire fields of soybeans exhibiting cupping. The widespread nature of the symptom could point to environmental stress as the cause, potentially from hot and dry conditions over the past week and a half. Many soybean fields are still not canopied.
Corn has greatly increased in height recently due to the accumulation of over 240 GDDs over the past week and a half.…

Soybean Phytophthora root, crown, and stem rot is one of the most significant diseases affecting soybean production worldwide. Multiple species of Phytophthora, a group of related soilborne pathogens, can infect soybean and cause primarily root rots while Phytophthora sojae causes root, crown, and stem rot, resulting in more severe symptoms and increased yield loss. In the state of Illinois, it ranks among the top yield-reducing diseases, following white mold and soybean cyst nematode (SCN).…

Steve Brand – Commercial Agriculture Specialist
DeKalb County
Soil Conditions: Near Normal
Overall, it’s been a very hot and humid week across northern IL as we begin to move out of the heat dome that’s been sitting on us for the past 5 days. This week alone, we have added nearly 200 GDU from the heat wave for Dekalb county with totals reaching 959 GDU on the season, and isolated rainstorms have brought a little bit of relief to the drought-stricken areas.…

by Trent Ford, State Climatologist
Illinois State Water Survey | Prairie Research Institute
University of Illinois
Happy summer solstice – it’s all downhill from here! Every day from now until late December gets a bit shorter. But, we still have most of summer to enjoy, and this week’s temperatures were enjoyable. Average temps this week ranged from the high 60s in northern Illinois to the high 70s in southern Illinois, near to 1-2 degrees warmer than normal.…