I visited fields in western Champaign County this week. Soil conditions are starting to dry in the top inch or so, but there is still plenty of moisture below the surface. Disease in both corn and soybean fields appears to still be minimal. That said, I did come across a couple small pockets in two soybean fields with symptoms consistent with sudden death syndrome. Soybeans are between R5 (beginning pod) and R6 (full pod), with new growth still occurring. Corn fields I visited were in late R4 (dough) into R5 (dent). Representative ears from different fields showed variable ear sizes and degrees of tipback.