The 2025 Growing Season In Illinois: Good But Not Great
DR. GIOVANI PREZA FONTES
URBANA, ILLINOIS
The 2025 growing season in Illinois delivered another storyline characterized by sharp weather contrasts, average crop condition ratings, some disease pressure in places, and very good – if not record-setting – yields in many, but not all, areas. As we have seen before, crops showed their ability to translate good mid-season conditions to good yields even with very dry late-season conditions.
A tale of two springs
March was 4-5 degrees warmer and 2-3 inches drier than normal statewide, bringing optimism for an early start to the planting season. The northern two-thirds of Illinois stayed dry early in the season, allowing widespread mid-April planting across the region. Stand establishments were reported as good to very good, thanks to minimal flooding and soil crusting after planting. By April 13, NASS estimated 1% of corn and 2% of soybeans had been planted; by May 11th, about half of the acreage of both crops was in the ground.
Conditions were the opposite farther south. Spring opened with unusually heavy rainfall across southern Illinois, leading to saturated soils and planting delays in many fields. Many areas received between 6 and 16 inches of rain in April (exceeding 300% of normal in some areas), followed by another 3.5 to 8 inches of rain in May. Despite the delayed start in the south, statewide planting wrapped up near normal, with the last fields planted by the second week of June.
Summer weather and crop conditions
For the fourth year in a row, both crops benefited from a warm, relatively dry June. Without heavy rainfall or saturated soils after planting, stands were generally good in most fields, with good root development, canopy color, and leaf area. Moderate drought conditions developed across northern Illinois by late June, but several rainfall events in July helped relieve it, especially in western, central, and south-central Illinois, where totals reached 200% of normal (more than 8 inches of rain in some areas) (Figure 1). July temperatures also averaged 2 to 6 degrees above normal, and statewide crop condition ratings increased to the typical 65-70% good + excellent by the end of the month.
The warm early-summer weather kept crop development ahead of schedule. Early-planted corn began to pollinate and soybean plants started to flower around June 22. Pollination went well in most fields, although areas that missed some of the July rains (such as Champaign County) showed varying degrees of ear “tip-back”, with kernels at the tip of the cob either not fertilized or aborting after fertilization. Firing – loss of corn leaf area beginning on the lower leaves – began to appear in the driest areas. ∆
DR. GIOVANI PREZA FONTES
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS