Disease
Ken Ferrie outlines various treatment scenarios, depending on what farmers find in their fields. He cautions that severe infections can easily cause 60-bu.-per-acre yield losses.
Catch up on recent news in the ag retail industry
As of mid-June, nearly 20 counties across four states have already reported fields with tar spot. Timing fungicide applications will be critical to keep the disease from getting out of control.
Abiotic stressors can trigger a response in plants called reactive oxidative species that can impair cellular function and growth. Biological products have shown significant promise in mitigating these challenges.
There are at least 30 fungicides labeled for suppression or control of tar spot in corn with a FIFRA 2(ee) recommendation.
The company is artificially inoculating tar spot in select field test plots this season to study how corn responds. Researchers say the work will help them advance tar spot tolerance for DEKALB and Channel products.
WinField introduced the BioVerified program earlier this year to help bring clarity to the biological marketplace.
These will add to the current Certis portfolio of more than 40 pest, disease and weed control products.
Just because tar spot was mostly a no-show in 2022 and 2023 doesn’t mean that will be the case in 2024. Charting humidity levels can help predict if the disease will strike.
In a year with razor-thin margins, at best, corn and soybean growers can use a variety of new technology and tried-and-true agronomic tools to score higher yields this season.
The National Agricultural Aviation Association shares what indicates a professional aerial applicator.
Data — a word that packs a punch but can be hard to define. From planting to irrigation, it’s necessary to have a digital record of these field activities to participate in sustainability and crop traceability programs.
Minerva is formulated to control Cercospora leaf spot (CLS), powdery mildew and Ramularia on sugar beets.
The product has an active ingredient of Tymirium to protect plants against nematodes, sudden death syndrome and cotton root rot.
Agtrinsic has expanded for the 2024 growing season to create a contiguous disease monitoring network from border to border in Illinois and Iowa as well as in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Indiana and Wisconsin.
The partnership will allow readings from Spornado’s device, Spornado Sampler, to be integrated into Agtrinsic’s Broad Scale Disease Model.
Convergence can be used in corn, soybeans and peanuts.
As the costliest pest in the U.S. for soybeans, this breakthrough means there will finally be options to develop varieties with enhanced SCN resistance.
The company says it has three-fold benefits: long-lasting yield protection, premium disease control, and effective resistance management.
The online tool from the SCN Coalition is free and easy to use. It’s backed by research done on more than 25,000 university soybean research plots across the U.S.
Now’s the time to start making notes of tar spot pressure, field by field and hybrid by hybrid, says Missy Bauer, Farm Journal field agronomist.
Some farmers in central Illinois are making yield estimates of 250 to 270 bushels per acre. Ken Ferrie says in many of those cases a more realistic estimate, though disappointing, would be in the 170 to 220 range.
Corteva Agriscience introduces Viatude and LumiTreo to address tough disease issues and protect soybean yield potential. Both will be available for use in 2024. There are limited supplies of Viatude this season, as well.
Conditions are right for the disease to break loose in parts of the Midwest. If it does, agronomists recommend three steps farmers can take to prioritize affected cornfields for harvest to minimize yield loss.
Corn growers in 13 states have confirmed tar spot outbreaks now. Iowa leads the pack with the disease reported in at least 36 counties. Indiana is a close second. “It’s starting to explode,” one agronomist says.
Farmers can use humidity charts for their area to assess when the disease could hit their corn crop as well as the optimum time to make a fungicide application, says Missy Bauer, Farm Journal Associate Field Agronomist.
In Bob Lindeman’s soybean rows, planting populations are on a general decline, and the reduction is not about saving dollars up front, but on combatting mold and rot.
“This is the earliest we’ve reported tar spot in Iowa,” says Robertson, Iowa State professor of plant pathology. She says the early detection could be due to the Tarspotter app. Here’s how it works.
Double-digit yield losses are not uncommon. To date, 14 Illinois counties have confirmed the disease, and it’s being scouted for elsewhere by seed company and Extension pathologists and agronomists.
Farmers with cornfields affected two years ago need to be ready this season, based on a corn-soybean rotation. Fields with high levels of residue are more susceptible, and beware heavy rains just prior to canopy.