More in Soybeans

As grain farmers make the transition from planting corn to soybeans, Shaun Casteel, a Purdue Extension soybean specialist, says they need to keep a few basic principles in mind. Planting conditions and timing, seeding rates and depths and insect awareness play major roles in the crop's yield potential....More

While no state is completely finished planting corn, some are getting close as the entire corn crop is 71% planted for 2012. This is well ahead of the five-year average of 47% by this date, and even further ahead of last year’s 32% pace....More

Like corn, soybean planting has had an unusually early start in Illinois this year, with some of the crop planted before April 1 and 5% planted by April 22. Was this early planting advisable? University of Illinois crop sciences professor Emerson Nafziger is not sure about planting in March and early April, given that some earlier work showed yield losses with very early planting....More

Corn balance sheets are unchanged and global supplies are lower from last month's report. Average prices narrowed 10¢ on each end to $6-6.40/bu. Global soybean production is down, but average prices are up to 12-12.50/bu....More

Crop yield can be improved by ensuring adequate nutrient availability. But how should you place the fertilizer and what cropping system gives the best yields? Research conducted by University of Illinois Assistant Professor of Crop Sciences Fabián Fernández, Professor of Crop Sciences Emerson Nafziger and graduate student Bhupinder Farmaha looked at how tillage, and phosphorus and potassium placement and rates, affected the distribution of soybean roots and the levels of water and nutrients in the soil....More

In the middle of fieldwork and corn planting, have you bothered to check your grain bins? Oooops. The warm spring weather – with temperatures in the 80s across the Corn Belt – may have wreaked havoc with the quality of your grain. Moisture and temperature are quite dynamic in a grain bin, traveling daily and creating opportunities for spoilage and fostering the growth of molds and insects. So while you are occupied in the tractor seat, let your aeration system work for you, but you have to give it a kick-start....More

Are the fundamentals surrounding soybeans causing prices to surpass expectations? At least one Corn Belt grain marketing specialist thinks so. And it could be a signal for you to sell more beans this spring. Price volatility can take the life out of a market in a flash....More

The much anticipated USDA Prospective Plantings and Grain Stocks reports were released Friday morning and contained an interesting mix of surprises. For a review of the USDA methodology for the Prospective Plantings report, see this Marketing and Outlook Brief. For the crops included in the report of planting intentions, total planted acreage is expected to increase by 8.6 million acres from that of 2011. The overall increase in total planted acreage is consistent with strong market incentives for most crops this year. The increase was led by grains, up 6.9 million acres; hay (harvested), up 1.7 million acres; and dry beans, peas and lentils, up 1.4 million acres. Cotton and tobacco were exceptions to the across-the-board increases, with total planted acreage for these two crops down 1.6 million acres....More

Corn growers intend to plant 95.9 million acres of corn for all purposes in 2012, up 4% from last year and 9% higher than in 2010. If realized, this will represent the highest planted acreage in the U.S. since 1937 when an estimated 97.2 million acres were planted....More

Successfully controlling yield-limiting crop diseases comes down to analyzing field history and making the right management decisions for individual fields, says Kiersten Wise, a Purdue Extension plant pathologist. Once soil-borne crop diseases are present in a field, they rarely disappear. When the right weather conditions present themselves, diseases such as sudden death syndrome, root rot, white mold and seedling blight can substantially decrease crop yields....More