ILSoyAdvisor Blog

While farmers don’t think much about applying boron, a micronutrient needed in small amounts, it is the most common micronutrient deficiency in soybeans, followed by manganese. While many growers recognize or are aware of manganese deficiency (often related to glyphosate applications), most aren’t aware of boron.

Boron is an important micronutrient that plays a role in plant development, reproduction and sugar movement. Soils typically...

Soybeans have a big appetite for potassium, so ask yourself, are you feeding them enough?

Soybeans require potash and plenty of it and remove more than corn. A 200-bushel corn crop will remove 50 lbs. of potassium per acre, while an equivalent 70-bushel bean crop will remove 84 lbs. How much attention do you pay to making sure potash levels are adequate before you plant your soybean crop?

Many growers have routinely applied...

Keeping a close eye on yield-robbers is critical to maximizing on-farm profits and yields. Even in high production years like 2014, foliar diseases can take a bite out of soybean productivity. Add to that the emerging issues of fungicide resistance in the frogeye leaf spot pathogen (Cercospora sojina), and there are a number of issues worth watching.

“We saw less of a problem with frogeye leaf spot this year compared to some...

On October 16, 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a report on the use of neonicotinoid productsin soybean seed treatments in the United States.  In preparing the report the authors reviewed several published efficacy studies and concluded that, “These seed treatments provide negligible overall benefits to soybean production.”

 Michael McCarville, SeedGrowth technical service representative, Bayer CropScience...