The 2016 InfoAg Conference, held in St. Louis in early August, brought together over 1700 participants from 20 different countries to learn about and discuss new ideas and technology for crop production. When we started these conferences 21 years ago, we didn’t anticipate where precision farming and information management would lead. What we dreamed about in 1995 was not even close to what we have developed and implemented since then. Presentations by 110 speakers and about 150 exhibits provided insight into how these technologies are impacting crop production around the world. Variable rate application of all inputs helps improve [...]

Rapid increases in yield gains in soybeans are attributed to technology, focus on better management and contributions from the army of CCAs across Illinois who help farmers better manage their crops. I started my career as an agronomist nearly 16 years ago. One comment I remember hearing often from farmers (many of whom had been farming longer than I’d been alive) was that they felt like they just couldn’t get any more yield out of their soybean acres. In fact, there seemed to be an overwhelming sense among these farmers that there had been no yield gains in decades. Although [...]

Brazilian yield challenge winners now routinely break 100 bags per hectare, a unit of measure close to 100 bushels per acre (100 bags per hectare equals about 91 to 92 bushels per acre).  For the past five years the Brazilian yield challenge winners have been visiting Illinois and Illinois farms, including a half-day to stop at the offices of the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) to learn about ISA’s Yield Challenge and tell us about their Yield Challenge results. ISA initiated its Yield Challenge in 2010. The goal was to get farmers to try new ideas and report back results [...]