More in Soybeans

America’s D+ infrastructure rating by the American Society of Civil Engineers Infrastructure Report Card is no surprise. Weak links to export channels lower farm profits and U.S. soy’s competitive advantage. One vital bridge or lock collapse during peak soybean export season would result in bottlenecks, as roads and bridges receive more traffic....More

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

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

Corn and soybean production prospects in the U.S. in 2013 will hinge mostly on the nature of the growing season and yield prospects. The magnitude of planted acreage, however, will provide the basis for anticipating total production. Likely acreage has been the topic of discussion all winter, with projections in a fairly wide range....More

Twenty-seven soybean farmers and spouses from Minnesota began a 10-day trade mission trek across eastern China on Thursday as part of the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council's (MSR&PC) International Marketing See For Yourself program....More

The Japanese beetle is becoming an increasingly prevalent pest in the north-central region of the United States and can occasionally be an economic problem in soybean or corn fields, says Kelley J. Tilmon, South Dakota State University Extension soybean entomologist. For clarification purposes, Tilmon wants to ensure that readers do not confuse the Japanese beetle with the Asian ladybeetle, which is often called Japanese beetle by mistake....More

Seedling diseases and seed rot accounted for more than 20% of soybean establishment problems in the past five years, and farmers had to replant almost 20% of affected acres. (This comes from a March 2012 survey of Midwestern and Southeastern certified crop advisors in 12 major soybean-producing states as part of a soybean seedling disease study.)...More