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Illinois Agronomist: Weather and genetics driving wide harvest variability
The outreach agronomist with the Illinois Soybean Association says farmers are seeing a wide range of variability in this year’s harvest results.
Stephanie Porter tells Brownfield, “I think that a lot of that is attributed to weather, but also genetics as well.” She says, “In corn, I’ve been hearing some pretty good yields, but I’m also hearing if you didn’t use a fungicide, your yields might be off a little.”
She says disease pressure has been a limiting factor in much of the state’s corn crop.
“I think there’s a lot more noise on southern rust, but further north, they had more issues with tar spot.” She says, “I would really start to worry about stock stability.”
Porter says the late-season drought made soybean variety selection key.
“For example, we planted it all early, and we are seeing differences in maturity.” She says, “So I do feel like some of those earlier maturities are going to yield higher this year.”
Porter says the dry fall has allowed harvest to progress rapidly, and with forecasts calling for more of the same, she expects many farmers could be nearly complete by the end of the month.
AUDIO: Stephanie Porter – Illinois Soybean Association
Tags: 2025 harvest, Corn, corn disease, Crops, fungicide, Harvest, harvest progress, Illinois Soybean Association, southern rust, soybean maturity, Soybeans, stalk quality, Stephanie Porter, tar spot