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March 29, 2019 While many growers realize the long-term benefits of cover crops for their soil, justifying an extra $30 to $35 an acre may be difficult in the short term. How do you make cover crops pay without an immediate return on investment with a grain sale?
Speaking at the recent Conservation Cropping Seminar in Springfield, Illinois, Sarah Carlson, strategic initiatives director for Practical Farmers of Iowa Cooperators’... |
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March 27, 2019 With more acres of soybeans being planted and more dropped ears during corn harvest, volunteer corn is becoming a larger issue for Illinois growers. Areas across Northern Illinois experienced 2018 harvest conditions where some of the corn crop didn’t make it to the bin. After the combine had harvested a corn field, it wasn’t uncommon to have more than 10 bushels/acre of grain left in the field. We also experienced weather conditions... |
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March 25, 2019 Early springs can create trying conditions for producers. In 2018, it snowed in Illinois on April 9. It was cool and wet through the middle of April, leading many growers to reconsider plans to attempt to plant beans before corn. The cool, wet conditions lasted until the end of the month, delaying the planting season in many areas. So far, 2019 seems to be following the same pattern, with cool saturated soils thus far. The National Weather... |
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March 20, 2019 Will precisely singulating soybean seed down to 1-inch plant-to-plant spacing improve pod count and potential? Several agronomists, including me, think this could be true even though there is no data yet on this question.
Corn planting is all about seed singulation and precisely |
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March 19, 2019 This article originally appeared in the University of Illinois the Bulletin. Average Illinois soybean yield first exceeded 50 bushels per acre in 2004, when it was 50.5 bushels. It was 51.5 bushels in 2010, and 50 bushels in 2013. Over the five years beginning in 2014, it was 56, 56, 59, 58, and, in 2018, an astonishing 65 bushels per acre. Yield in each of the past five years was above trendline, which is a first—the longest... |
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March 17, 2019 I have said that starters may be the next edge to growing high-yield soybeans after adopting early planting. Most starter trials show little yield response, but those trials were conducted with soybeans planted in May and often after May 10 or 15. Today soybeans are being planted 20 to 30 days earlier and the results may prove to be different.
A question recently came in from a grower... |
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