Pivotal Issues Blog

By: John Hart For farmers to maximize their soybean yields, they need to do the math. Speaking at the recent Piedmont Soybean Field Day at the Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury, N.C., Dr. Ron Heiniger, North Carolina State University Extension cropping systems specialist, said four components make up the mathematics of soybean yield: Nodes per acre, […]

By: Rod Swoboda 1 With rain delays and a slow start for harvest this fall, a number of cornfields in Iowa developed ear rots and kernel molds. In addition to too much rain, moderately warm temperatures encouraged mold growth. Also, while waiting to be harvested, many soybean fields developed quality problems. “It’s important to scout each […]

By: Larry Stalcup 1 Whether it’s corn, soybeans, cotton, or other crops, good weed management is often the determining factor in being able to meet yield projections. By not attacking Palmer amaranth, waterhemp, and other weeds early and often with proper herbicide applications, a good crop can go south in a hurry. With new technologies available […]

By: Larry Stalcup 1 A proper insecticide seed treatment can be the difference between whether early cotton seedlings can survive thrips or other insects just after planting — a time when young plants are already under pressure in typical cool, damp conditions. Seed treatments may be even more important with the newer herbicide-resistant cotton varieties being […]

By: WallacesFarmer Improving the odds of having a successful cash crop following a cover crop is the aim of several new projects funded by the Iowa Nutrient Research Center at Iowa State University. “Based on strong farmer interest and input from our center advisory committee, almost a third of this year’s $1.7 million in project […]

By: WallacesFarmer Results of a five-year study at various locations across Iowa show cover crops added to a corn-bean rotation have no negative effect on yield while significantly reducing the nitrate concentration in subsurface water. Conducted by Iowa Learning Farms, Iowa State University Extension and Practical Farmers of Iowa, this study helps dispel the commonly […]

By: Tom J Bechman Nearly 25 years ago, Dave Nanda estimated that corn could yield more than 500 bushels per acre. It wasn’t just a wild guess. He based his estimate partly on how many raw ingredients corn plants could capture per acre for photosynthesis. Over the past couple of years, farmers in national corn yield […]

By: Meaghan Anderson Before the combine gets stashed away for winter, an end-of-season clean-out is a way to check the combine over for necessary maintenance and remove material that could act as food or bedding for pests, like mice or raccoons. These animals can cause damage by chewing wires or nesting in the engine. Cleaning out […]

By: Gil Gullickson For the most part, there’s good news about corn rootworm in 2019. Wyffels Hybrids had an extensive rootworm-trapping network this last summer for adult rootworm beetles in order to assess next year’s larval (root damaging) populations. “We have not seen a huge spike in numbers,” says Mitch Heisler, marketing manager for Wyffels Hybrids. […]

By: Gene Johnston How much nitrogen does your corn crop need each year? That question is one of your toughest, you’ve said in surveys. Newell Kitchen, a soil scientist with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service in Missouri, is sympathetic to your quandary. The sources of plant-available nitrogen in the soil, coupled with the year-to-year variability of weather, […]