By RHIANNON BRANCH

FarmWeek

The statewide average winter wheat yield in Illinois for the 2025 crop was 88 bushels per acre, according to the USDA, surpassing the record of 87 bushels set in 2023.

“A lot of it boils down to the fact that wheat tends to respond to management very well and it seems like the more that you do to promote high yielding wheat, the more that crop responds and gives you that high yielding wheat in return,” Illinois Wheat Association President Tracy Heuerman told FarmWeek. “I think farmers that grow wheat see that and they’re willing to invest in the crop to make sure they get the maximum yields.”

The top five highest yielding counties in Illinois were Macon (112.3), Carroll (111.6), Edgar (110.2), Ogle (106.9) and Schuyler (104.6). Countywide average yields also reached or exceeded 100 bushels per acre in Bureau, Champaign, Clark, Gallatin, Greene, Henry and McLean counties.

Illinois farmers produced a total of 61.6 million bushels of wheat in 2025, up from 60.2 million in 2024.

The leading counties in winter wheat production last season were Washington (5.6 million), Randolph (3.3 million), Perry (2.6 million), St. Clair (2.16 million) and Wayne (2.11 million).

Heuerman, who farms in Effingham and Clay counties and covers 11 counties across the I-70 corridor as a field sales agronomist for GROWMARK, said the 2025 crop saw timely planting and good emergence.

“In general, from my recollection, the wheat crop from the 2025 season was one of the better looking ones that we’ve had coming out of dormancy,” she said.

Challenges came later in the growing season – including six weeks of wet weather in April and May.

“I do think with the commodity prices and the outlook, farmers pulled back on applications of products like fungicides and palisade,” Heuerman said. “So, we did face more lodging challenges than what we had in previous years.”

Looking at the 2026 crop, she said fields planted in the second half of October were slow to emerge given the dry weather and are a little behind, “But in general the stands are there, the population is there and I think we’re set up to have another really good wheat crop this year.”

Illinois farmers have had success with wheat yields for several consecutive years, jumping from a 66 bushel-per-acre statewide average a decade ago. After two years of 79-bushel yields (2021 and 2022), the average jumped to 87 bushels in 2023 and remained steady at 86 in 2024.

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