The CN Railroad has informed us that the Thomas Street railroad crossing in Ludlow will be closed to all traffic beginning Monday, September 14, through Friday, September 18.
Motorists are asked to follow all posted detour signs and use alternate routes during the closure.
We appreciate your patience and cooperation as this work is completed and apologize for any inconvenience.
The Illinois Wheat Development Act authorized the creation of a wheat checkoff program in Illinois. In March 2025, Illinois wheat producers adopted via state-wide referendum the creation of the Illinois Wheat Development Program which began on January 1, 2026. Since then, Illinois wheat producers have also elected nine board members who are now taking steps to implement the new assessment.
Your partnership is imperative to successful implementation of the IL Wheat assessment. This notice is to inform you that the Illinois Wheat Development Board set July 1, 2026, as the effective date to begin collection of the 1.5 cents per bushel assessment. More information and resources will be provided as the Board develops materials but it is important that we share with you a few key components to the program:
The checkoff rate will be 1.5 cents per bushel starting on July 1, 2026.
Producers may request a refund.
Elevators may retain a 2% handling fee as long as the remittances are received within 15 days of the end of each quarter.
Additionally, funds collected through this assessment will be used to:
help develop new markets and uses for wheat and wheat products.
provide research to improve efficiency, production, and utilization of wheat.
enhance more efficient economical production of wheat.
enable the wheat industry to adapt to market demands.
Thank you for your important role in the Wheat Checkoff’s mission of increasing demand for wheat and making wheat production more profitable. More information will be coming to help you prepare. Should you have any questions, please email contact@illinoiswheat.org or call 309.557 .3619.
Good morning. Grain prices are taking a breather from the euphoria of yesterday. Talk that the initial U.S. and China meeting went well offered support yesterday to the market. There is hope in the fund buying that China will come to some agreement to buy additional U.S. commodities during the Sept 24th meeting. President Trump takes a pause from that today, and he will speak at the UN meeting at 9 a.m. central time. It is likely that the two wars will be part of his talking points. He has a few side meetings planned after his talk, including with the Ukraine President. The crop progress report showed corn at 13% harvested and beans at 12%. For corn, IL is 16% done, IN is 7%, OH is 2%, and IA is 4%. The eastern side of the Midwest will now face a drier trend for a few days, which will accelerate harvest activity. The western side of Iowa will still deal with rains, but the rest of the state may see some progress once the fields dry and the flooding subside. The rain has helped most of the river levels with the IL and STL segments expected to bump up into next week. The corn funds are estimated to be pushing back to record levels on length. Crude is lower as Iran has once again offered to reopen the Strait if the U.S. meets certain steps on easing military pressure. Not much other new news with the focus on China expected to ramp up closer to Thursday. Producers will be busier in the fields as the week goes on, which should give a better sense of yield estimates by early next week. Temps do warm up again next week. We will see if the President has any market moving speech comments here in a bit. Have a safe day. ...
Following a Friday sell-off in the ag space to end the week last week, markets came roaring back on Monday and traded higher to sharply higher throughout the day on optimism surrounding the week's trade meeting between the US and China and as speculative selling has generally lessened. Position adjustment and long liquidation were at the heart of a lot of the downward pressure seen the last several days, but at least for today, that pressure looks to have now subsided amid what continue to be mostly bullish fundamentals.
🌽 Corn Market Update Corn futures started the week higher on Monday, erasing the losses seen last week and shooting back up near the recent high on optimism surrounding Chinese demand and as early yields seem to be performing notably worse than expected across the Corn Belt. Due to that drop in yield, along with good early-delivery cash bids now being less common than they were 10 days ago, farmer selling has also dried up a bit, which gave buyers little resistance as they piled into more longs throughout the session. The market has obviously had plenty of time to price in record demand levels over the last ten months, but a political purchase agreement by the Chinese would be a new development that isn't yet reflected in the balance sheet. Record fund length is in part due to the falling crop size, but it also has to do with traders being aware that this possibility exists and positioning accordingly. With harvest delayed across a lot of the upper Midwest, its all about China the next couple days.
🌱 Soybean Market Update The soy complex was higher to start the week on Monday, with Friday's loser meal being Monday's upside driver on headlines that several Midwest crush plants could slow or shutdown in the coming days due to lack of available supply caused by a slower-than-normal start to harvest. As for China, its not expected that there will be any announcements this week regarding additional tonnages or volumes of soybeans, but traders will still be watching developments for whether or not reciprocal tariffs are lifted, which remains the hurdle blocking Chinese crushers from purchasing beans from the US and not only the government.
🌾 Wheat Market Update Wheat futures were higher to start the week on Monday, with buying the result of both strength throughout the rest of the space and also more weekend missile/drone strikes between Russia and Ukraine that signal there continues to be little if any progress being made towards any sort of a ceasefire agreement. President Zelensky says that he's ready to engage in diplomatic negotiations towards ending the war, but following weekend political wins by Putin in Russia that have seemingly emboldened his ideology, such negotiations would seemingly also appear to be a ways off. An end to the war does not appear to be close, which means Black Sea export capacity is only likely to decline further. ...
Good morning. Grain prices are taking a breather from the euphoria of yesterday. Talk that the initial U.S. and China meeting went well offered support yesterday to the market. There is hope in the fund buying that China will come to some agreement to buy additional U.S. commodities during the Sept 24th meeting. President Trump takes a pause from that today, and he will speak at the UN meeting at 9 a.m. central time. It is likely that the two wars will be part of his talking points. He has a few side meetings planned after his talk, including with the Ukraine President. The crop progress report showed corn at 13% harvested and beans at 12%. For corn, IL is 16% done, IN is 7%, OH is 2%, and IA is 4%. The eastern side of the Midwest will now face a drier trend for a few days, which will accelerate harvest activity. The western side of Iowa will still deal with rains, but the rest of the state may see some progress once the fields dry and the flooding subside. The rain has helped most of the river levels with the IL and STL segments expected to bump up into next week. The corn funds are estimated to be pushing back to record levels on length. Crude is lower as Iran has once again offered to reopen the Strait if the U.S. meets certain steps on easing military pressure. Not much other new news with the focus on China expected to ramp up closer to Thursday. Producers will be busier in the fields as the week goes on, which should give a better sense of yield estimates by early next week. Temps do warm up again next week. We will see if the President has any market moving speech comments here in a bit. Have a safe day. ...
Following a Friday sell-off in the ag space to end the week last week, markets came roaring back on Monday and traded higher to sharply higher throughout the day on optimism surrounding the week's trade meeting between the US and China and as speculative selling has generally lessened. Position adjustment and long liquidation were at the heart of a lot of the downward pressure seen the last several days, but at least for today, that pressure looks to have now subsided amid what continue to be mostly bullish fundamentals.
🌽 Corn Market Update Corn futures started the week higher on Monday, erasing the losses seen last week and shooting back up near the recent high on optimism surrounding Chinese demand and as early yields seem to be performing notably worse than expected across the Corn Belt. Due to that drop in yield, along with good early-delivery cash bids now being less common than they were 10 days ago, farmer selling has also dried up a bit, which gave buyers little resistance as they piled into more longs throughout the session. The market has obviously had plenty of time to price in record demand levels over the last ten months, but a political purchase agreement by the Chinese would be a new development that isn't yet reflected in the balance sheet. Record fund length is in part due to the falling crop size, but it also has to do with traders being aware that this possibility exists and positioning accordingly. With harvest delayed across a lot of the upper Midwest, its all about China the next couple days.
🌱 Soybean Market Update The soy complex was higher to start the week on Monday, with Friday's loser meal being Monday's upside driver on headlines that several Midwest crush plants could slow or shutdown in the coming days due to lack of available supply caused by a slower-than-normal start to harvest. As for China, its not expected that there will be any announcements this week regarding additional tonnages or volumes of soybeans, but traders will still be watching developments for whether or not reciprocal tariffs are lifted, which remains the hurdle blocking Chinese crushers from purchasing beans from the US and not only the government.
🌾 Wheat Market Update Wheat futures were higher to start the week on Monday, with buying the result of both strength throughout the rest of the space and also more weekend missile/drone strikes between Russia and Ukraine that signal there continues to be little if any progress being made towards any sort of a ceasefire agreement. President Zelensky says that he's ready to engage in diplomatic negotiations towards ending the war, but following weekend political wins by Putin in Russia that have seemingly emboldened his ideology, such negotiations would seemingly also appear to be a ways off. An end to the war does not appear to be close, which means Black Sea export capacity is only likely to decline further. ...
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