Every growing season teaches us something new. Conditions change, markets shift, new pests emerge. Weather patterns challenge even the best management plans. Our job is to help you adapt, adopt and make well-informed choices backed by science and data.

This month’s Illinois Field & Bean Magazine takes a closer look at the research helping drive decisions on Illinois farms. Our Illinois Soybean Research Review highlights work focused on practical results and real-world value for soybean growers. Inside this issue, you’ll find updates tied to the 2025 growing season and projects designed to answer important questions farmers are facing right now.

Many research projects stand out this year for the direct impact they can have on farm profitability and long-term sustainability. While the report goes in-depth on each, I want to give you a peak at three of these efforts.

Know Before You Spray

Farmers today must focus on efficiency. It’s important to know if pest populations are sufficient to cause economic damage before investing in insecticide applications. Researchers are working to change that. Insights about insect pest pressure are helping farmers understand whether insecticide applications are actually delivering a return on investment. When you can’t see a clear economic benefit from a treatment, that’s money left on the table. This work gives farmers a more confident, data-backed answer to a question every grower asks at some point during the season: do I need to spray, or not?

The Weed That Won’t Quit

Waterhemp is not a new problem, but it is getting harder to manage. Concerns are growing around the long-term effectiveness of herbicide control, and researchers are digging into whether poor control is tied to resistance or simply to application conditions. The stakes are high. Weed management is one of the biggest input costs in soybean production, and losing effective tools narrows options fast. This research is focused on helping farmers stay ahead of resistance and protect the weed control programs they depend on.

Planting Early, Managing Smart

Earlier planting can push yield potential higher, but it also raises the risk of crop injury when soils are cool and wet. Research is evaluating how different pre-emergence herbicides perform in early-planted soybeans and identifying which products carry greater risk for stand loss. For farmers who have already made the shift to earlier planting, or are considering it, this work fills a critical gap. Knowing which herbicide programs are safer under those conditions offers protection before the season really gets started.

Beyond these three projects, researchers are also studying sulfur fertility, cover crop and reduced tillage systems, starter fertilizer timing, and red crown rot identification. One project combines soil, crop and weather data with advanced modeling tools to generate location-specific estimates on crop performance, environmental metrics and nutrient loss. That gives farmers better footing as incentive programs, such as carbon markets, continue to evolve.

Readers will also get to know the people behind all this work through our “Meet the Researchers” feature. Across Illinois universities and research programs, talented people are dedicating their careers to strengthening soybean production for the long haul.

As you explore this issue, I hope you see more than research projects and trial results. I hope you see a commitment to helping Illinois soybean farmers make informed decisions, manage risk, and stay competitive in an increasingly complex environment. Every study, every field trial, and every data point represents an investment in the future of our farms.

We’re here to ensure Illinois agriculture doesn’t simply endure. It thrives.