Row Crops Today — June 9, 2026
The 5-minute 5 AM brief for row crop producers and ag professionals
Headline Stack
🌧️ Level 4 "Extreme" HeatRisk hits Plains-to-Ohio Valley June 9–15, indices to 108°F
📊 USDA: 97% of U.S. corn, 92% of soybeans planted as of June 8
🌧️ Missouri farmers report 6 inches in 48 hours, three feet of water on river-bottom fields
🔬 MU Extension flags June 12–14 window as likely tar spot trigger in Missouri corn
🔬 Red crown rot spreads into new states, MSU urges soybean scouting across five-state footprint
Top Story
🌧️ Level 4 "Extreme" HeatRisk hits the Corn Belt June 9–15. — LINK
The Weather Prediction Center has placed Level 3 (Major) and Level 4 (Extreme) HeatRisk advisories across Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and the Ohio Valley from June 9 through June 12, with National Weather Service Heat Advisories forecasting heat index values of 104–108°F persisting through June 15. The event arrives with 86% of the U.S. corn crop emerged and soybean canopies still establishing, leaving newly emerged stands across the central Corn Belt exposed to the first major heat stress of the 2026 season. Conditions in saturated Missouri fields had already left producers asking for warmth before the forecast turned extreme. "Waist-high corn and soybeans near canopy closure aren't bad following 3.5 inches of rain, but it could use some heat," said Matthew Backer, a Callaway County, Missouri producer. The HeatRisk footprint overlaps the same Plains and Mid-Mississippi geography that absorbed 3–6 inches of rain over the past week, setting up a rapid swing from saturated soils to high-evaporative-demand conditions across roughly half the national corn footprint.
More This Week
📊 USDA: 97% of U.S. corn and 92% of soybeans planted. — LINK
USDA's June 8 Crop Progress report shows corn at 97% planted versus a 96% five-year average, with 86% emerged and 67% rated good to excellent; soybeans are 92% planted (ahead of the 88% average), 79% emerged, and rated 65% good to excellent.
"Corn and soybean planting has nearly wrapped up across the U.S.," USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service reported in its weekly Crop Progress release.
Sorghum planting reached 53% complete, below the five-year average of 57%; pasture and range conditions were rated 31% good to excellent, up one point from the prior week.
🌧️ Missouri producers report three feet of water on river-bottom fields. — LINK
Cooper County, Missouri producer Nathan Alpers reported more than 6 inches of rain in 48 hours on replanted river-bottom acres, while statewide soybean planting sits at 80% complete with 67% emerged and conditions rated 58% good to excellent.
"For the river bottom farmers right now, I'm certain we've lost one farm. It's just got three feet of water on it in places," said Nathan Alpers, Cooper County producer.
Todd Gibson, who farms in Ray and Carroll Counties, said he has four to five days of first-crop soybean planting left if consecutive dry days materialize; scattered rains and thunderstorms remain in the Missouri forecast this week.
🔬 MU Extension flags June 12–14 as the tar spot trigger window. — LINK
MU Extension plant pathologist Mandy Bish said tar spot has appeared in Missouri corn during the June 12–14 window in each of the last three years, with the Crop Protection Network showing zero confirmed U.S. cases as of Monday, June 8.
"We're probably going to have tar spot in multiple places this year. It's really just a matter of whether the weather is right for it to spread," said Mandy Bish, MU Extension plant pathologist.
The tar spot fungus survives in corn residue and develops when temperatures hold in the mid-60s to low-70s for extended periods; Bish advises scouting the lower canopy for small, raised black lesions and submitting photos to MU's Plant Diagnostic Lab in Columbia for confirmation.
🔬 Red crown rot spreads into new states, MSU urges sampling. — LINK
A Michigan State University plant pathologist is urging soybean growers across Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, and Kentucky to scout fields and submit suspect plants for red crown rot testing after the disease expanded into new states this season.
MSU Extension is asking growers to pull whole plants — roots included — and ship them to the university's plant diagnostic lab for confirmation, citing the difficulty of distinguishing red crown rot from sudden death syndrome by foliar symptoms alone.
Red crown rot, caused by the soil-borne fungus Calonectria ilicicola, was first confirmed in U.S. soybeans in 2018 and has since expanded north out of the Mid-South into Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Kentucky.
Basis Watch
Old-crop soybean basis firmed 10 cents on Monday at Iowa Northwest, Nebraska East Central, and Minnesota South, the day's largest moves across either commodity. Additional old-crop soybean strength of 5 cents showed up at Iowa North Central, Iowa South Central, and Kansas South Central. Not all soybean locations moved the same direction — Illinois Little Egypt softened 8 cents on the low end and Illinois Southwest weakened 8 cents on the top end.
Corn basis moves were smaller and concentrated in old-crop bids. Kansas South Central corn firmed 5 cents, and the top-end bid at Kansas Southwest also improved 5 cents. Illinois North and Iowa Northwest old-crop corn strengthened 3 to 4 cents on the high side, while Illinois West softened 1 to 2 cents.
Source: USDA AMS
86% of the U.S. corn crop had emerged as of June 8, matching the five-year average — even as a Level 4 Extreme HeatRisk event bears down on much of that footprint this week.
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