The 2025 planting season is already on the radar. Phones are ringing, with farmers placing orders for seed, fertilizer, crop protection and fuel. Many already have locked in their prices for those inputs.

Although many decisions have been made, it doesn’t mean you can’t review, adjust and evaluate decisions based on what your fields are telling you. 

How did your varieties perform in 2024? Your pretty maps, yield reports and weigh wagon results can lend some insights. With that 30,000-foot overview, lower your elevation. How did the varieties do under similar circumstances? Don’t compare two varieties if one was planted, treated and harvested under ideal circumstances and the other was mudded in, treated when you could get in the field and harvested later than ideal.

Drop down one more layer by removing the headlands and point rows. How did the fields stack up historically? Which varieties performed as expected?

What did you see?

What did notes tell you that your yield monitor and weigh wagon didn’t? Remember that yield monitor data is an average performance rating across a specified harvest width. Notes or even pictures come in handy when cross-referencing what you see on the yield monitor. 

What was the disease load? Southern rust was confirmed in several counties by Aug. 8. Did you notice a difference in fields with a fungicide application compared with those without one?

Related:Try ‘dropping dead’ for farm transition planning

Tar spot had its earliest detection ever in June, but conditions were not favorable for its rapid expression until later in the growing season. For some areas, it was of little consequence because the crop’s maturity outpaced its impact. But for others, it was a painful yield hit if not treated. Tar spot should be considered when making variety selections and fungicide application decisions.

Thanks to Hurricane Helene or the derecho in mid-July, you may have noticed lodging in some fields. Was that damage due to standability of the variety or site obstacles such as trees and geography that can funnel or accelerate winds?

University of Purdue Extension educators made observations and collected samples at 44 farms on 67 corn or soybean fields in 27 counties throughout the state in 2024. We will continue to share their findings in 2025 to provide you with answers.

A little prep from your own observations can help in seeking out answers to improve upon the 2024 cropping year.  Here’s to a productive 2025 crop.