Early Soybean Planting in 2020: Some Old News & A Good Reminder
As winter creeps near, it is customary to analyze the previous growing season and tweak management for the better. Let’s do so here and look at planting. We saw an “old story” return in 2020, and we also received an “important reminder about that old story.” What “old story” returned in 2020? We once again saw that earlier planting tends to bring yield benefits with it. Let’s refresh your memory about last year though. Central Illinois typically sees about a one-third bushel advantage per day of earlier planting. However, in 2019, we saw very little impact related to planting [...]
Cover Crop Goals
This article was originally published in the November issue of Illinois Field & Bean magazine. Do cover crops work? That depends on the definition of “work,” according to Todd Steinacher, Illinois Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) and ILSoyAdvisor Content Coordinator. But that definition varies from farmer to farmer and even field to field. “Cover crops can help farmers achieve a variety of goals, like stabilizing soil, suppressing weeds or reducing compaction,” says Steinacher. “But the cover crop has to do what it was intended to be considered successful.” Steinacher, based in central Illinois, fields questions about cover crops every year, [...]
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