All Posts from 2019

Because of the dry weather pattern we are in, there has been some conversation across the countryside about two-spotted spider mites becoming our next challenge in this crazy 2019 growing season.  

Before we dive too far into this discussion, let’s spend a minute understanding this pest....

2019 has been an unusual season with a wet spring and very late planting followed by drier weather and outbreaks of diseases and pests. I think this is a year we will be glad to put behind us.
 
I have been scouting soybeans on a fungicide project in eastern Nebraska and...

August is a critical time in the life of a soybean plant. Although many of the flowers have pollinated, the plants are still setting new flowers and the tiny pods and seeds inside them are beginning to develop.  Depending on when they were planted, soybeans are generally in the R3 (beginning pod) or R4 (full pod) growth stage at the beginning of the month. It takes an average of 24 days for soybeans to advance from R4 to the R6 (full seed)...

In the Jerry Reed song “East Bound and Down” from the movie "Smokey and the Bandit" part of the chorus is “we have a long way to go and a short time to get there.” Well, that could be the theme for double-crop soybeans in 2019. I guess this whole cropping year so far could be a country song. It sure has had its challenges and they are far from over.

The 2019 wheat harvest wasn’t an early or late crop, coming in about the middle of the...

Soybean production in Illinois has been on a a steep upwards trend over the last decade. Dan Davidson, research and technical consultant for the Illinois Soybean Association, takes a look at the evolution of soybean production and what practices have helped Illinois take the lead in soybean yield.

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Have you ever had a field that you drove by several times a week, and something about it really intrigued you? Well I found mine this past year located in Macoupin County. All winter and spring I watched a rye grass cover crop field not only grow, but hold back erosion and suppress winter annual weeds. Every day I drove past this field I would think for several miles down the road about how maybe I had the wrong thoughts on cover crops, how...

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