More in Crops

While so many farmers in the Corn Belt are waiting for the soils to warm up, now is a great time to think about some corn planting logistics: tillage, row spacing, seeding depth and more. Roger Elmore, Iowa State University, offers the following tips for corn planting as we head into spring 2013....More

Modern hybrids absorb more than half of their final N content after flowering. In fact, they absorb 27% more total N from the soil after flowering than hybrids grown between 1950 and 1990, says a newly released Purdue study. Today’s hybrids absorb more grain-N during grain fill, as opposed to N being remobilized from plant leaves and stems. The higher amount and duration of N uptake contributed to better grain yields, even as actual grain N concentrations decline; hybrids are much more efficient. But as corn plants increase N use, they increase their uptake of other nutrients....More

Soybean growers heading into the 2013 planting season might find that many soybean seeds are larger than normal – a lingering impact from the 2012 drought, says Laura Lindsey, an expert with Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES)....More

Only 1% of the Illinois corn crop was planted by April 14, compared to 38% on that date in 2012. With soils still cool, more rain falling this week, and a forecasted drop in temperatures later in the week, corn planting is unlikely to be early in 2013, according to University of Illinois Crop Sciences Professor Emerson Nafziger.

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The drought of 2012 may have impacted the seed lot for planting this spring, and many growers have asked, “What do we need to consider going into the 2013 planting season?”...More

Mistakes made during crop establishment are usually irreversible, and can put a ceiling on a crop's yield potential before the corn plants have even emerged. The following are some proven practices that will help get a corn crop off to a good start....More

Applications of liquid manures have the potential to provide nitrogen (N) that can be counted toward meeting the needs of the corn crop and substituting for 28% or other fertilizer N sources. Research on the application of manure preplant or sidedress to corn has been ongoing in Ohio for several years....More

As escalating corn prices have encouraged many farmers to switch to growing corn continuously, they wonder why they have been seeing unusually high yield reductions over the past several years. The University of Illinois conducted a six-year study that identified three key factors affecting yield in continuous corn (CC) systems.

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There are concerns with possible bee kills from the use of neonicotinoid seed treatments when planting corn. The neonicotinoids, when applied to the seed, get mixed with the talc that is used to allow seeds to flow more easily in the planters, and then the insecticides plus talc enter the environment during planting or when the seed boxes are cleaned. This “dust” can settle on flowering plants and weeds that bees will use for forage, or perhaps contact the bees or nearby hives directly resulting in bee mortality....More

Farmers intend to plant 97.3 million acres of corn for all purposes in 2013, up slightly from last year and 6% higher than in 2011. Soybean growers intend to plant an estimated 77.1 million acres in 2013, down slightly from last year but up 3% from 2011....More

"There’s nothing about scouting a farmer can't learn," says Bruce Potter, Minnesota Extension integrated pest management specialist. He, along with Ryan Wolf and Harold Watters scout extensively and train growers, crop consultants and agronomists how to scout. Scouting isn't just identifying a disease or insect pest, says Watters, an Ohio State University Extension field agronomist....More