We are noticing a trend in weather with rain patterns at the beginning of the week, suspending fieldwork for many farmers until typically late Wednesday or early Thursday due to cold, overcast weather conditions following the rain events. Weather continues to be an issue, with cooler temperatures in the 30s at night and frost as we wake up in the morning. This slows the pace for everyone as we wait for the sun to shine and temperatures to climb to get field activity rolling in the mornings. The struggle to get soil conditions near optimal continues as farmers try to finish planting season and we try to finish pre-herbicide applications. With more rainfall in the forecast next week, we may see the same trends again. Many conversations focus on the weather and what the right thing to do is with current forecasts. Many are getting anxious, but we reflect on the past few years and how great the conditions have been in our territory.

Hello and welcome back to another year of crop scouting reports! For those who don’t know me, I am Steve Brand, a commercial agronomy specialist covering the northern region of Illinois through University of Illinois Extension. To start our crop scouting journey this year, we have had quite a difference from the start of 2025 in that we are not currently in a drought. The problem with that is, to get to this point, we have had excessive rain across all of northern Illinois through March and April, with some cooler temperatures to boot. Fields are currently still wet, with little corn and soybeans in the ground by the end of the first week in May.

Driving through Lake County, McHenry County and DeKalb County this week showed little field activity, with few fields planted overall. Recent storms followed by cool and frosty nights have led to very poor drying conditions. As we enter the weekend and next week, I expect fields to dry out and the big planting push for corn and soybeans to begin. A bit farther south along the Interstate 80 corridor, I saw active field tillage, pre-emergent herbicide applications and general field maintenance in preparation for planting, so those areas are a bit further ahead than the far northern reaches of the state.

With the large amount of rain accumulated in April, we also saw plenty of localized flooding along the Fox River and Rock River, with some areas seeing 2- to 3-foot water-level increases. Those levels are close to returning to normal as I write this. April obviously brought plenty of severe weather to induce the flooding. Illinois, from Jan. 1 through April 30, has experienced 119 tornadoes across the state, which is more than double the number of the next closest state. I, for one, am hopeful these weather patterns have passed and we can move forward into the summer with calmer weather.

I’ll see you all next week with another report, and I am excited to see fields planted through the weekend and really get this season underway.

Crop growth across Logan County remains steady despite heavy rains and cold nighttime temperatures. Most fields that have been planted have begun to emerge, with a few fields still yet to be planted. There do not appear to be many spots that will require replanting due to washouts from heavy rains in late April.

We are wet now due to recent storms, but conditions had been pretty dry and are just now getting back closer to normal soil moisture levels and water tables.

Early to mid-April saw a lot of fieldwork, and the earliest corn is already ankle-high. Overall, still less than 25% of the crop is in the ground, but that is still a lot more progress than we saw a year ago. Now the forecast looks like we are going to be wet for the next couple of weeks, but at least most of the early planted crop has emerged despite the cold soils.

The wheat is done flowering and looking good after the dry winter and spring.

Cold and damp conditions continue across much of the area. Many operations are sitting around 25% planted or less heading into the weekend. What corn is in the ground is beginning to emerge. Most beans planted are still sitting un-emerged. Crop health will be monitored closely in the coming days, as a lot of the area had frost Thursday morning.

In my three-county area, we are more than two-thirds planted, but that varies from area to area depending on rainfall amounts and field drainage. All plants are showing leaf damage from one or a combination of high winds, blowing soil and severe storms. This leaf damage can be seen in the photos.

With the high winds, we have experienced dust storms in select locations across the three counties.