Crop progress varies from state to state and from field to field depending on whether crops were planted early or late, received a lot of precipitation or too little and other factors. Talon Becker, a commercial agriculture specialist with University of Illinois Extension, said there has been some crop loss from wet weather he has seen around Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. He encourages farmers to scout for stalk rot and other conditions that could affect their crops.
“In corn there are not as many rot spots, but to know for sure, farmers can dig up plants and send them to the crop lab,” he said. Still, Becker said everything is looking pretty good. He encourages those who think they may have a crop disease or fungus to make sure it goes beyond the edge of their fields before they take the effort and expense to spray.
“Currently, it’s pretty much wait and see for harvest and most of the corn has pollinated at this point,” he said. In the most recent farmdoc crop update, Doug Gucker, local food systems and small farm educator in Dewitt, Macon and Piatt counties, noted that in general, all crop are looking good with very few issues other than weather-related problems. He noted that the previous week’s surge in aphid populations was a thing of the past, with rainstorms, disease and predators sending the populations into a nosedive.
Reagan Tibbs, an Illinois Extension commercial agriculture educator, reported on conditions in Logan County, stating the crop progress remai.