Central Illinois farmer Cory Ritter said spring moisture has helped him make headway after a dry winter on his Macon and Christian county acres near Blue Mound. His fields recorded about 4.5–5 inches rain in April, with a mid-month storm that produced roughly 1.25 inches in some pockets and brought tile flow back to life. Seeing tile running again has been a clear signal that several fields were finally draining well enough for fieldwork.
Ritter began planting soybeans early in April and has pushed through most of his acreage, reporting about 90% of soybeans now in the ground. He is holding out one remaining soybean field until soil conditions improve, preferring to wait rather than risk compaction or poor seedbed conditions. Those decisions are keeping him on schedule for the farm’s rotation and seeding targets for 2026.
Although continuous planting windows have been scarce, Ritter said he has been able to find short, workable stretches between rainfall to get equipment in the right fields. “The Lord’s blessed us with some good windows,” he said, noting careful field selection has mattered as much as calendar timing. He has also moved into corn planting where soils allowed and began that work in late April, confident the conditions met his standards.Started corn planting
Field management
On the agronomic side, Ritter emphasizes establishing crops under favorable conditions to give seedlings the best possible start and reduce early stress. He watches soil temperature and moisture closely and prioritizes fields that drained quickly after storms to avoid compaction and uneven emergence. If the season remains wet, he said targeted fungicide applications can be beneficial, but he cautions those treatments should follow diligent scouting and clear infection risk.
Ritter is also focused on the bottom line for the 2026 season, looking for ways to cut input cost without trimming yield potential. He said recent market movement and input adjustments have nudged his projections into the black, but he’s working to ensure savings translate to realized profit at harvest. Efficiency improvements and careful timing of inputs are central to capturing that margin.
Field-level choices continue to drive day-to-day activity on his operation: identifying which fields to plant now, which to delay, and where scouting or fungicide applications will add value. As of late April, one soybean field remains unplanted pending better surface conditions while most beans are in the ground and corn planting has begun where drainage and soil temperature are adequate.
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