Crop Report



Champaign County received much-needed rain this past week, totaling about 1 to 1.5 inches. During a survey of the southern half of the county on Aug. 20, surface soils in most fields were still slightly wet from the previous morning’s storm, with the southwest corner a bit drier than the rest of the area. Corn fields surveyed were generally in the late R4, or dough, to R5, or dent, growth stages. The severity of tip dieback ranged from minimal to more than 2 inches across the area.
Full-season soybeans were generally in the R6, or full seed, stage, with a few fields beginning to drop leaves and enter R7, or beginning maturity, at least in parts of the field. I also came across a couple of double-crop soybean fields, both just entering the R3, or beginning pod, stage. One of these fields featured a placard from the Illinois STAR Program, which connects farmers using conservation practices with end-users willing to pay premiums that support those practices.