Pivotal Issues Blog

By: Tharran Gaines When Triple Oaks Farms put in a 14-acre pond this past spring, it wasn’t because the owners liked to fish. Instead, the goal was to establish a storage reservoir designed to feed up to three new center pivot irrigation systems. “In this case, these pivots aren’t near any creek or river, and […]

By: John Sawyer Nitrogen fertilization is important for achieving high corn yields, with optimal application rates essential for maximizing economic return and minimizing impact on water quality. Winter cereal rye as a cover crop has been shown many times to reduce the concentration of nitrate-N leaving fields in drainage water — a distinct advantage for […]

By: Yield Quest Brian Johnson eyes wheat stubble dotted by a bountiful cover crop of tillage radishes on his family’s north-eastern South Dakota farm. “This is the new tillage,” says the Frankfort, South Dakota, farmer, who farms with his wife, Jamie, and his father, Alan. Cover crops like tillage radishes can shatter compacted soil layers […]

By: Sonja Begemann The perfect seed doesn’t exist—but can it? Breeders have tried without success for decades to perfectly combine yield, disease tolerance and weather hardiness to hit the Holy Grail. Now scientists say gene editing could be the key to success. “This new technology allows us to discover, develop, deploy and commercialize traits with […]

By: Darrell Smith A 200-bu.-per-acre corn crop consumes 330 lb. to 350 lb. of nitrogen per acre. Know your soil’s nitrogen-supplying power to fine-tune application rates. A 200-bu.-per-acre corn crop consumes 330 lb. to 350 lb. of nitrogen per acre. Know your soil’s nitrogen-supplying power to fine-tune application rates. The need to protect water supplies […]

By: P.J. Griekspoor Some years are better than others when it comes to collecting water use research data. “We had a lot more rainfall than we normally get, and that made it difficult to know how much impact was due to irrigation practices and what was due to plentiful rainfall,” says Jonathan Aguilar, one of […]

By: Gene Johnston Yes, you can still squeeze a few more bushels of corn and soybeans out of your fields. A project at Kansas State University (KSU) is pointing the way. Researchers are testing advanced management practices to benefit both high-yielding corn and soybeans. Results so far provide an interesting contrast in how the two […]

By: Successful Farming Staff Think you’ve heard it all about herbicide-resistant weeds? Here are six often-overlooked facts about them to consider as you ready your weed-management plan for the coming growing season in 2017. 1. They’re not new. “The first resistant weeds to atrazine were reported in 1970,” says Ian Heap, director of the International […]

By: Tom Bechman 1 Dave Nanda, Seed Consultants, Inc., has worked in plant breeding or more than 40 years. He has also interviewed farmers who do a good job of obtaining good stands of corn. And he’s talked to some who don’t do such a good job of getting cornfields to emerge evenly and uniformly. […]

By: Rod Swoboda What’s the best date range to plant corn? Can you plant corn before April 11? And what temperature should the soil be when you plant corn? Experts answer these key Midwestern corn planting questions below. Iowa corn planting dates Roger Elmore, Iowa State University Extension corn agronomist, has compiled data from a […]