Here in my 3 county area (DeWitt, Macon & Piatt), soybeans are in either R7 – Beginning Maturity or R8 – Full Maturity stage. All corn fields are in the Dent or R5 stage with many fields in the R6 – Physiological Maturity. A few farmers have started to harvest mature early corn varieties. Noting grasshopper feeding damage on field edges (see photo). Areas of local fields where corn was stressed during grain fill are showing signs of stalk quality issues and lodging. It might be worth your time to check stalk quality in corn fields to prevent lodging losses.