A light shower last weekend and nearly an inch of rain in the first couple of days this week took the edge off for the crop in most of my immediate area. The high temperatures and high humidity are pushing the corn along pretty fast now. Visible plant stress is minimal, especially after the shot of rain we got. Some spotty hail managed to poke a few holes in the beans in certain areas, but the corn is largely unscathed. Most soybean fields have now received their post-emergent herbicide passes—the fields that haven’t are pretty obvious from the road. Farmers and retailers are working diligently to get those taken care of, as we’ll be into corn pollination and fungicide season before we know it.

Most of the 2025 crop has emerged in the last 3 weeks. Stands look good by and large. Some of the early fields did get a bit of crust and needed a hoe in the absence of a timely rain. Corn stages range from V5 on the first planted fields to VE-V1. Soybeans are mostly VE to VC but we do see some trifoliate leaves here and there. The cool temps over the last 10 days or so have slowed crop growth across the board potentially negating some of the advantage of early planting. Warmer weather is in the forecast but not much rain.

Corn and soybean planting in northern LaSalle county both seem to be 60-70% completed with some producers having all their soybeans planted and are now focused on the corn. I’m expecting to see most producers in the area to wrap up planting most of the 2025 crop in the next 2 weeks- maybe less.

Field work of all types is underway. The last 2 days of 30+mph wind has hampered spraying operations but spring tillage and planting operations are continuing.