More in Corn

Nov. 28, 2012

Article

RMA Sets New Crop Insurance Premium Rates

The USDA’s Risk Management Agency (RMA) has announced it will continue to update crop insurance premiums for corn, soybeans, grain sorghum, spring wheat, rice and cotton. Revised rates for corn and soybeans were offered in most counties in 2012. Revised rates for grain sorghum, spring wheat, rice and cotton will be available in 2013....More
Nov. 27, 2012

Article

Partial Corn Residue Removal Reduces Management Challenges

Corn residue (stover) increases proportionally with corn yields, creating management challenges for growers. To help address those, agronomists and scientists from DuPont Pioneer and DuPont Industrial Biosciences teamed up to conduct research on the impact of residue removal on the long-term agronomic and environmental integrity of fields. Residue is also evaluated for cellulosic ethanol production, which has benefits for both farmers and biofuel producers....More
Nov. 21, 2012

gallery

2012 Corn, Soybean Yields 2

With harvest complete, we've polled farmers for what their final yields ended up being for corn and soybeans, as a percentage of normal. Taking numbers from the comments on the poll, we've mapped out final yields across the Corn Belt. We'd love to get more numbers, so feel free to leave a comment here with your final average corn and soybean yields and we'll add them to our maps.
Nov. 19, 2012

Article

Can U.S. Continue Corn Export Domination? 1

The United States remains the world's corn export king, although its empire is shrinking, says Philip Abbot, a Purdue University agricultural economist. Foreign nations that previously relied on the U.S. for corn are growing more of their own or buying from other producing countries, says Abbott. He predicts the trend will continue even if market conditions improve and U.S. corn production increases....More
Nov. 16, 2012

Article

3 Tips For Protecting Stored Corn

Did you take all of your 2012 corn to the elevator or do you have corn in the bin? If you are storing corn at home, it should be protected from the potential for growth of mycotoxins and their production of aflatoxin. Those will more than negate any benefit you had ever hoped to receive from farm-stored corn this fall. Farmers with corn in their bins are taking an extreme chance of losing the value of the grain unless it is well managed. But how do you do that?...More
Nov. 14, 2012

Article

Corn Hybrid Traits to Select for Top Yield

University field trials show that hybrid selection is the number one factor in determining yield. Four years of yield data from the University of Minnesota illustrate the impact hybrid selection has on a corn grower’s bottom line....More
Nov. 13, 2012

blog

USDA Increases Expected Soybean Production

The USDA Crop Production report released on Nov. 9 increased the estimated total soybean production in 2012 to 2.97 billion bushels, which is 4% above the 2.86 billion bushel estimate in October. The 2012 soybean production estimate is still 4% lower than the 2011 U.S. soybean production of 3.09 billion bushels, and 11% below the 2010 production level of 3.33 billion bushels. This production increase is a fairly major production adjustment for this late in the year....More
Nov. 9, 2012

Article

November 2012 Crop Production: Corn Up Slightly from October; Soybeans Up 4%

Corn production is forecast at 10.7 billion bushels, up slightly from the October forecast but down 13% from 2011. This represents the lowest production in the United States since 2006. Soybean production is forecast at 2.97 billion bushels, up 4% from October but down 4% from last year. Based on Nov. 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 39.3 bu./acre, up 1.5 bu. from last month but down 2.6 bu. from last year....More
Nov. 5, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Roots of Plant Health | Root Physiology Tools, Agronomic Basics Aim to Reduce Stress, Boost Yields 1

If you lack focus below the soil, on your crop root environment, then these critical plant pathways won't efficiently transport water and nutrients into place for top yields. To build healthy roots, start with the basics, suggests Bruce Potter, integrated pest management specialist, University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center....More
Nov. 5, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Brazilian Corn Conundrum | Huge Corn Production Potential Exists if Hurdles Can be Cleared

A soybean powerhouse, Brazil is also a growing force in corn, as demonstrated last year when it increased corn production by 31% to almost 2.9 billion bushels. With that record crop, Brazil’s exports also jumped. Now the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service expects Brazilian farmers to set another planting record for both corn and soybeans this year....More
Nov. 5, 2012

Article

Corn Export Shipments Dropping

Corn export shipments were 15 million bushels for the past week and new sales were only 6 million bushels. Total shipments of 83 million bushels for the marketing year are 37% behind last year and sales are down nearly 50%. What is wrong with U.S. corn? Strong dollar? High cost? Aflatoxin? Is feed wheat more abundant and lower priced? Competition from typical or atypical sources? With short supplies you would think buyers would be grabbing up whatever they could before it runs out....More
Oct. 23, 2012

blog

2013 Acreage Watch

Soybeans come in a poor second compared to corn in Ohio State University's initial crop budget analysis for 2013. The spreadsheet used by Barry Ward, Extension production business management specialist, plugged in sales values of $6.24/bu. for corn and $13.20/ bu. for soybeans....More
Oct. 16, 2012

blog

USDA Crop Report Increase Minnesota Yield

The Oct. 11 USDA crop report showed significant increases for both corn and soybean yields in Minnesota, as compared to September crop report. This corresponds closely to actual corn and soybean yields being reported from many areas of the state, which have been better than expected, given the extremely dry weather conditions that existed in several areas. Crop yields in the southwest and south-central parts of the state have been highly variable due to the drought conditions that existed during the last half of the 2012 growing season....More
Oct. 12, 2012

Article

Relative Importance of Price vs. Yield Variability in Crop Revenue Risk

Managing crop revenue risk is of critical importance for financial success by agricultural producers and a central theme of many government commodity and insurance programs. Debate surrounding the farm bill for example, includes various programs intended to limit revenue variability that arises from low crop prices, production declines as might happen under a drought, and so forth....More
Oct. 11, 2012

Article

October 2012 Crop Production: Corn Down Slightly from September, Soybeans Up 9%

Corn production is forecast at 10.7 billion bushels, down slightly from the September forecast and down 13% from 2011. Based on conditions as of Oct. 1, yields are expected to average 122 bu./acre, down 0.8 bu. from the September forecast and 25.2 bu. below the 2011 average. Soybean production is forecast at 2.86 billion bushels, up 9% from September but down 8% from last year. Based on Oct. 1 conditions, yields are expected to average 37.8 bu./acre, up 2.5 bu. from last month but down 4.1 bu. from last year....More
Oct. 9, 2012

blog

Drought Continues, Harvest Wrapping Up

Even though the 2012 harvest season is rapidly drawing to a close, most areas of southern and western Minnesota remain in severe to extreme drought, with conditions worsening in the past couple of months. The latest U.S. Drought Index places all of south-central and southwest Minnesota in an extreme drought category. Approximately 85% of the major corn- and soybean-producing areas in the U.S. are currently experiencing some level of drought, including most of the Western Corn Belt States and nearly all of the Plains states....More
Oct. 7, 2012

Article

Corn Price Decline Less Than 1% With Full RFS Waiver 4

A full waiver of the Renewable Fuel Standard’s (RFS) conventional biofuel requirement might reduce corn prices by just 0.5% (4¢/bu.) in 2012-2013, according to a new analysis conducted by the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute. The study also found corn ethanol production might slip by just 1.3% with a waiver in 2012-2013, while corn available for livestock feed might increase just 0.6%....More
Oct. 1, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Built From Scratch | Top Corn Yields from Desert Ground

Paul Evans stands in a lush corn field on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Farm and Ranch and marvels at the changes on this ground over the past 20 years. A couple of decades ago, when he came to the 597,000-acre reservation in the southwest Colorado desert near the New Mexico border, this land near the toe of Sleeping Ute Mountain produced nothing. Zip. Nada....More
Oct. 1, 2012

Article

Corn and Soybean Digest

Trials of African Corn

Rain makes grain. This is something that almost every U.S. farmer hasn’t had enough of this year, and yields have suffered because of it. We, too, had that problem last year at our farm on the Afram Plains in Ghana, West Africa. We’d planted a 140-day maturity, No. 2 yellow corn Pioneer hybrid, which was produced in Brazil and imported into Ghana. I was confident the genetics were good, but due to the lack of rain/irrigation we ended up with a 27-bu./acre yield....More
Oct. 1, 2012

Article

Aflatoxin and Grain Storage

Once grain is dry and cold, or even just cold, the Aspergillus flavus fungus is rarely able to grow and produce more toxin. However, at least two problematic situations are arising: bin dryers operated at medium temperatures (below 120° F) and high variability of moisture within fields....More
Sep. 28, 2012

Article

Corn Stocks Down 12% from September 2011; Soybean Stocks Down 21%

Old-crop corn stocks in all positions on Sept. 1, 2012 totaled 988 million bushels, down 12% from Sept. 1, 2011. Of the total stocks, 314 million bushels are stored on farms, down slightly from a year earlier. Off-farm stocks, at 675 million bushels, are down 17% from a year ago. The June-August 2012 indicated disappearance is 2.16 billion bushels, compared with 2.54 billion bushels during the same period last year....More
Sep. 25, 2012

blog

Harvest Progresses Rapidly

Corn and soybean harvest is progressing at a very rapid rate in most portions of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, as a result of almost perfect harvest conditions. As of Sept. 21, harvest progress for both corn and soybeans was at 25-50% completed in much of south-central and southwest Minnesota. This level of harvest progress is more typical of mid- to late October than late September. Most of the crops have matured beyond any potential damage from a killing frost....More
Sep. 25, 2012

gallery

2012 Corn Harvest: A Day In The Life Of...

CSD Editor Kurt Lawton headed home to Jefferson, Iowa, where his brother and cousin were harvesting corn on the family farm. From dawn until dusk (and beyond), they were combining, loading and getting the 2012 corn crop out of the field. These two fields averaged yields of 117 and 131 bu./acre. Yields were well below average due to the drought.
Sep. 25, 2012

video

Crop Progress in Africa

CSD columnist Kris Klokkenga, who farms in Ghana, Africa, talks about how the current corn crop is developing as far as emergence. This particular farm uses no-till....More
Sep. 24, 2012

Article

Soil Testing Critical After a Drought Year

Most crop producers in Nebraska are in the midst of harvest now, and planning for next year is not on top of their “to-do” list. However, as harvest wraps up, soil sampling should be near the top of their list. This has been among the most challenging growing seasons in 50 years, with rainfall amounts far below average. Irrigation has moderated drought impacts for many Nebraska growers, but at a significant cost. The combination of drought conditions, heavy irrigation and widely varying yields means that soil testing is more important than ever this year....More