As harvest comes to a close in most areas, it is time to reflect on the 2025 growing season and evaluate management decisions for the 2026 crop year.

AgriGold agronomist Kevin Gale covers the northern half of Illinois, where yields were fairly good but fell short of early season potential following early disease pressure and consistently high overnight temperatures.

“In the western side of the state, we had a lot of disease pressure come in early; aggressive diseases like tar spot and southern rust,” Gale told FarmWeek. “A lot of growers decided not to spray fungicide because commodity markets were low and I think this was definitely a learning year where fungicide proved to be a benefit.”

Gale said 2025 was also an example of the importance of fungicide timing.

“If we waited too long and got later into grain fill before we applied a fungicide, maybe we missed that window,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity to review our management techniques and make some minor adjustments for next year if we had a little bit less than desirable yields out there.”

The same can be said for the timing of nitrogen applications.

“Especially on the western side of the state where we had a lot of rainfall in July and August, nitrogen could have been an issue for those growers doing a once-and-done application method for nitrogen,” Gale said. “Maybe revisit your application strategies to maximize nitrogen availability later in the season.”

Planting dates also played a big role this season.

“We want to make sure we’re planting into good conditions with a warming trend. That’s where we’ve seen the maximum yields this year, even if [corn] was planted in May,” Gale said. “It appeared that those acres were higher yielding than growers that maybe pushed the envelope in April with the amount of stress that we had.”

When planning for next season, Gale said it starts with genetics.

“The weather really drives performance, and we know we can’t predict what next year is going to bring,” he said. “So, diversifying our lineup of genetics and throwing out different maturity products is going to help reduce risk for the future.”

With lower commodity prices and higher input costs, growers will be looking for ways to save in 2026, but Gale said cutting costs does not mean cutting management tools.

“Put a plan together to try to maximize bushels going forward and be very strategic on when that timing is going to be and what you can do to maximize the efficacy of the product applied, whether it be nitrogen or fungicide or fertilizer in general,” he said.

And while 2025 data should be a factor in decisions for 2026, he said it is most beneficial to look at average results from the past few seasons.

“I’m not a big believer in making drastic changes from year to year, but tweaking management may be important to maximize genetic performance,” Gale said. “Talk to your agronomist to try to fine tune those management techniques to maximize production in 2026.”

This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.