Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Growers

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From St. Louis Metro East: If only you could schedule rain events

November 4, 2025

The St Louis Metro East region has been so dry the last several months that it was rather bittersweet for the St Louis Metro East to receive a 3” rain event on one of the biggest fall agritourism weekends. On the one hand, the entire landscape was in desperate need of rain, but on the other...

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Empty rows in a high tunnel after tomato plants, stakes, and strings have been removed. Random fruit is scattered among the rows.

From Dixon Springs Ag Center: Finally transitioning from summer crops to cover crops in high tunnels

November 4, 2025

The continued warm temperatures through October made for ideal growing conditions for the tomatoes and peppers within the high tunnels at DSAC. While not the large yields like in mid-July harvests, tomatoes harvested in October had excellent flavor, size, no white core issues, and were probably the...

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From Northeastern Illinois (St. Charles): Frost is near! Tips on how to extend the season

November 4, 2025

Its officially Halloween season, but that also means that frost is near for Northern Illinois. Some parts of the area have been affected by spotty frost, like Kendall County and parts of Western Kane County, which takes most crops out of production. For the operations impacted by frost, there may...

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close up of pearl millet seedhead in a fall planted cover crop field

From Southwestern Illinois (Waterloo): Irrigation makes big difference in fall crop performance

November 4, 2025

October started as a continuation of the above normal temperatures and dry conditions. Temperatures have started to get closer to average in the last half of the month and finally we broke our dry spell. We had 2.71 inches of rain as of October 19 which was the first rainfall in almost a...

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From Northern Illinois (Rockford): Pumpkins and apples October update

November 4, 2025

This October has brought excellent apple harvests across many Northern Illinois orchards, with a mix of traditional, PRI, and MAIA varieties showing strong performance. I visited several orchards this past month and saw healthy crops and steady visitor turnout. Post-harvest fruit quality has varied...

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graph with a red line above a blue line representing daily high and low temperatures in bloomington from aug 22 to sept 13 2025

From Central Illinois (Bloomington): Unity Community Center demonstration site update

October 6, 2025

Weather and precipitation summary for Bloomington-NormalHere in central Illinois over the last 30 days, the hottest temperature observed was 91°F on September 13th, while the coolest temperature observed was 43°F on August 26th.Many mornings and...

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many orange jack o lantern pumpkins stacked in bins in a field

From Southwestern Illinois (Waterloo): Pumpkin season is here!

October 1, 2025

Whether it feels like fall or not, fall is here, and pumpkin season has started. We have been very dry and other than a few breaks have had temperatures early in September in the 90s and now have dropped back to the mid to upper 80s for highs. Rainfall down here has been minimal. ...

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words antibiotic resistance and a warning symbol on a clipboard

Invitation to participate in a food safety research project on antibiotic resistance

October 1, 2025

Antibiotic resistance continues to be a problem, that needs to be solved. Antibiotic resistance is when it becomes more difficult to kill bacteria using antibiotics. When foodborne pathogens become antibiotic resistant, the people who contract a foodborne illness may not respond well to treatment....

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display of orange, blue, and tan pumpkins on top of upside down milk crates

From St. Louis Metro East: Fall agritourism season has opened

October 1, 2025

Despite droughty conditions much of the growing season, the pumpkin crop looks plentiful. Apple harvest is in the ‘Golden Delicious’ window, including ‘Pixie Crunch’ into ‘Braeburn’. Though in the tail end, tomatoes are still in harvest. Fall activities like corn mazes, pumpkin...

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lots of red apples hanging on limbs of tree

From Northern Illinois (Rockford): Apple and pumpkin update

October 1, 2025

As of this week, 9/22, we are about halfway into the apple season in Northern Illinois. I’ve had the opportunity to visit six orchards in the area this month and the crop looks good overall. Some orchards are running about a week ahead compared to last season. The end of September will bring...

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Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Growers

Commercial Fruit and Vegetable Growers

Latest Posts

From St. Louis Metro East: If only you could schedule rain events

From Dixon Springs Ag Center: Finally transitioning from summer crops to cover crops in high tunnels

From Northeastern Illinois (St. Charles): Frost is near! Tips on how to extend the season

From Southwestern Illinois (Waterloo): Irrigation makes big difference in fall crop performance

From Northern Illinois (Rockford): Pumpkins and apples October update

From Central Illinois (Bloomington): Unity Community Center demonstration site update

From Southwestern Illinois (Waterloo): Pumpkin season is here!

Invitation to participate in a food safety research project on antibiotic resistance

From St. Louis Metro East: Fall agritourism season has opened

From Northern Illinois (Rockford): Apple and pumpkin update

Blog Authors

Nathan Johanning

Bronwyn Aly

Nick Frillman