ILSoyAdvisor Blog

Hello from District 2!  As I write this, the ground is wet and we expect planting delays.  Most of our area received at least a couple tenths of rain. The rest of the week looks to deliver even more rain. A lot of growers have seen the light at the end of the tunnel and are finishing up corn. My best guess on corn planting completion is 60 percent for this district.  

However, soybeans are another story. A very low percentage of...

Driving around my area the last few days and looking at the wheat crop there are a lot of commonalities from field to field this year. None of them are progressing fast enough right now for getting our double-crop soybeans established in a timely manner. So as we go to the field (soon I hope) to plant corn we need to be thinking about our double-crop bean planting strategy. 

We have had a cool wet April here in southern Illinois. This...

Reducing row spacing is one way to increase yield and profitability.

Marion Calmer of Calmer Cornheads and Calmer Farms Independent Research in Alpha, Illinois, has found, based on a 4-year study (2009 to 2012) the more profitable row spacing was 15-inch compared to 30-inches. Of course, the price of seed has...

Are you interesting in applying nitrogen on soybeans? Have you tried it yet?

The past year or two agronomists, farmers and university faculty have been writing and talking about putting nitrogen on soybeans. Two things I have noticed are that farmers are interested in trying it to increase soybean yield and university specialists state it doesn’t pay.

The scientific reality to date is that applying nitrogen on soybeans is...