Cover Crops: Why Not Wheat?
I have attended several meetings the last few weeks where the topic of cover crops has been discussed at length by different speakers approaching the subject from different angles. The general focus of cover crop use at these meetings is to accomplish two different tasks: 1) Sequester nutrients either from highly erodible land or sensitive areas in watersheds and 2) help reduce erosion on highly erodible lands (HEL). Both are becoming, if not already are, a desirable result as we approach nutrient management, Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS) and reducing loads in impaired watersheds. In the meetings I attended [...]
Illinois Soybean Farmers Harvest Record Crop
BLOOMINGTON, ILL – January 12, 2017 – Illinois has regained the title of top soybean-producing state, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) data released this morning. The crop production annual summary from the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) ranked Illinois as producing nearly 593 million bushels of soybeans in 2016, up from 544 million bushels in 2015. The average yield was 59 bushels per acre, up three bushels from last year. The 2016 crop was harvested from 10.05 million acres, up from 9.7 million acres last year. Illinois has been ranked in the top two soybean-producing [...]
Soil Sampling and Soil Tests 101
Editor’s Note: This is the 1st part in a 4-part series on the 4Rs and nutrient management. Soil sampling and testing is not an exact science, but it is one of the many tools farmers have to improve profitability and maximize yield potential. Soil testing combined with plant tissue testing, yield results and other field data, help growers to make sound nutrient management decisions all season long. I’ve outlined some best practices for successful soil sampling on your farm in this, part-1 in a 2-part series, covering “Nutrient Management and the 4Rs.” Sample Number A soil probe is the [...]
Soybean Production – Determining Feasibility
The ILSoyAdvisor is a website focused on soybean management with content provided by experts. While it is focused on Illinois, its reach is global and we have readers from around the globe. And they often ask specific questions about production and how to make it work for them. I have posted a few blogs addressing their questions. In December I got two questions from commercial farmers in Nigeria and Afghanistan asking about the feasibility of growing commercial soybeans and asking for some advice. Dispensing advice is easy if it means answering some basic agronomy questions. But determining whether to [...]
Twelve BMPs for Managing Weed Resistance
We are all familiar with the Twelve Days of Christmas. Well, we should all be just as familiar with the twelve best management practices (BMPs) for managing weed resistance. The ‘Take Action’ website listed these 12 BMPs that are useful to remember. Below is a link to the ‘Take Action’ website and a PDF of the BMPs. The additional commentary on 12 BMPs was added by Eric Ifft, Customer Business Advisor with Bayer CropScience, and is reprinted here with permission. 12 Best Management Practices for Managing Weed Resistance 1. Understand the Biology of the Weeds. This is the very [...]
Best Management Practices for Growing Second Year Soybeans
Before we start, we fully acknowledge our title “Best management practices for growing second year soybeans” is a bit misleading as we do not advocate this practice (its not a BMP!) but we thought we could sucker you into reading this article if it had an enticing title! Our main reason for writing this article stems from growers questioning their 2017 bottom line. This issue was highlighted in the article written by Gary Schnitkey and Darrel Good entitled 2017 Crop Budgets and Current Prices Say Switch to Soybeans and Expect Low Returns. It is thought that farmers may plant [...]
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