Hello again, it’s Max the soybean. If you remember, my siblings and I were planted on March 10 and had come through some pretty harsh conditions. Last time we spoke, there was some doubt as to whether or not we would survive the hard freeze we had just been through where the temperature dropped as low as 26°F over the previous couple of nights. As you can see in this picture, we were plenty cold and covered with ice crystals. The next few days were pretty dicey. None of us came through unscathed. For most of us, our cotyledons [...]

It is that time of year again when spring gives way to summer heat. Crop planting has all but wrapped up across the state, and all emerged fields are growing at breakneck speed. Post emerge applications are mostly complete on corn fields and post emerge applications in soybeans are in full swing. This time of year, it is not uncommon to notice oddities in your crop fields. Sometimes it is easy to jump to conclusions, that may not be accurate. Let’s go through a couple of scenarios and walk through some considerations. Case 1: Deformed Leaves Photo credit: Steven [...]

Scouting has become a historical activity in many areas and has been replaced with a drive-by at 15 MPH. Yes, if one can see green rows across the field it may seem as if the crop is developing nicely. However, as they say, the devil is in the details. So now that I have piqued your interest in wanting to go walk a soybean field, now what? Below are some items of what to look for and track. 1. Stand Establishment Stand counts should be performed early in the crop’s life cycle to determine the need for replanting and/or “beefing” [...]

It has been a refreshing change to drive the countryside, meet with producers and scout fields that have emerged with little to no issues. I believe we can expect replant concerns to be minimal or as expected even with the recent, heavy rains due to excellent stand establishment. This fantastic start to the season is in part because I feel producers across East Central Illinois were able to do all of the following: Plant high quality/high cold germ seed Utilize proven seed treatments Plant on the first “field fit” date Achieve uniform emergence These four items have been a [...]

This article was originally published by the American Society of Agronomy. View the original article here.  The United States grows a lot of corn and soybeans. Some researchers think it’s a good idea to add wheat into that mix. Long-term tillage, crop rotation, and nitrogen trial at Ridgetown Campus in Ontario, Canada in early July. Credit: Adam Hayes A new study shows including winter wheat once every 4 years in rotations with corn and soybean can have many benefits. The research was recently published in Agronomy Journal. In 2019, farmers across the U.S. harvested corn from 81.5 million acres of farmland. That’s [...]

The 2021 wheat crop has the chance of being very good in overall production as well as a very profitable crop this year with the commodity price. To start, the warmer/drier than normal fall allowed the wheat to be planted and emerge in a timely fashion, as well as put on some very decent growth prior to winter. After breaking dormancy in late March, the wheat crop seemed to take off and not look back. Nutrient applications that were made prior to the wheat breaking dormancy provided excellent nutrition for the crop to push through cold, wet, and stressful [...]

Submitted by Illinois Farm Bureau Managing nutrients on farms can be accomplished in different ways, depending on what farmers each have to work with in their fields. Farmers can certainly learn from each other, too, what works and what doesn’t. Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) has a program that helps with that exchange. IFB’s Nutrient Stewardship Grant Program this year features 21 projects across 28 counties, and county Farm Bureaus are hosting field days to showcase how farmers improve soil health and water quality to address the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS) in the state. The first three events were [...]

A final soybean population stand of 90,000-110,000 planted early can still support optimum yield potential. However, if soybean population stand counts are between 50,000-70,000, you may need to consider beefing up the stand. When soybean populations become too low, it often leads to a weak and delayed canopy and will become harder for managing weeds. Another consideration is that at lower populations, some soybean varieties may “flex” their canopy too much and eventually have standability issues. There has been plenty of population yield trials conducted across the state in recent years showing that lower population of soybeans can still [...]

The U. S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA NASS) released its latest Crop Progress and Conditions report on May 3, 2021, reporting that soybean planting progress in Illinois is ahead of its five-year average. This doesn’t come as much surprise since many progressive producers have been planting more soybeans earlier than the previous 10 years. With so many soybean fields planted, it’s important to get out and evaluate fields on quality of stand, but to also better understand how a soybean plant grows and develops. Soybean and corn plants are smart, in the fact that when [...]