Disease
Crop protection, seeds and digital tools could be rolled into a standalone company by middle of next year.
Some Midwest cornfields are losing more than a percentage point of moisture daily, tightening timelines for growers trying to determine how much crop they can confidently sell into the market rally.
Barbell, beer can and banana are descriptive names for abnormal ear shapes that show up every season and cause yield losses — problems growers could avoid more often by tuning into three factors researchers refer to as GEM.
Environmental factors are behind this year’s crown rot surge. The disease is appearing in hybrids that agronomists say are rarely prone to having the problem.
Red crown rot is now active in at least eight Midwest states. The significance of the disease is building. The Crop Protection Network estimates 7.7 million bushels of soybeans were lost in 2025 versus 121,000 bushels in 2024.
Iowa State research reveals PI 88788 resistance is losing effectiveness at 2% per year, with yield losses potentially reaching 9 bushels per acre by decade’s end if management practices are unchanged.
Day 1 of the Pro Farmer Crop Tour highlights a deeply divided Corn Belt. Scouts find drought-damaged corn but surprisingly resilient soybeans in the West, while the East battles mud and highly uneven maturity.
With Midwest farmers reporting disease lesions on leaves in storm-hit cornfields, an Iowa State pathologist says the right management step hinges on correct identification.
Ken Ferrie leads the unsponsored, two-day event focused on crop fertility ROI, weed management and making the 4Rs pay in tight markets.
With summer patterns running up to four weeks behind schedule, meteorologist Don Day urges growers to plan in short windows for the second half of the growing season.
Ken Ferrie lays out a strategy for farmers struggling with ponded corn acres after rains soak parts of the Midwest.
The product is designed to address cercospora leaf spot.
With cold, wet weather moving across parts of the Corn Belt, agronomists advise farmers to be ready to check high-yielding genetics for crown and stalk rot.
Illinois grower Stephen Butz is uber-focused this season on removing the hidden barriers that have kept his bean crops from reaching their true potential.
The leadership for New Corteva and SpinCo aims to drive growth through a specialized focus on crop protection and advanced seed genetics.
Ken Ferrie warns that anhydrous ammonia won’t help young plants fight the carbon penalty this spring. He details how to bridge the nitrogen gap and protect your yield potential.
Before you leap, check out these essential management steps from Missouri farmer Todd Gibson and Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie to help you mitigate risks and protect ROI.
Drift reduction adjuvants help keep products where you want them in the field and deliver measurable yield results.
Crown rot is showing up more frequently in Midwest cornfields. Plant pathologists say it’s likely a multi-pathogen disease and offer five practical ways to address it this season.
A new report details the need for more ag funding to address existing weeds, insects and diseases as well as agronomic problems that have yet to reach U.S. shores.
Preemptive control of heavy-hitting diseases like white mold, frogeye leaf spot, Cercospora leaf blight and others is now possible thanks to specially designed soybeans that act like an early warning system, enabling proactive fungicide treatments and yield protection.
In many areas of the Corn Belt, farmers experienced 10-to-50-bu.-per-acre yield losses from disease pressure this year, says Ken Ferrie. In a period of tight margins, timely treatment decisions were more crucial than usual.
Because every growing season is unique, agronomists are encouraging corn growers to make a management plan for the “driver diseases” they’re most likely to encounter in fields next year.
The fungal disease has spread to fields in at least seven states since 2018, including three new ones just this year. Once established, the pathogen is nearly impossible to eradicate, Extension plant pathologists report.
Number of bushels per acre is high on their list of priorities, but it’s not necessarily their No. 1 concern going into 2026.
Both products have been registered for use by the EPA, with one of them featuring a novel active ingredient.
While many farmers in the state were delighted by the results the 2025 season delivered, that wasn’t the case everywhere. In some areas, Mother Nature delivered a series of agronomic problems that dominoed and turned a potential bin buster crop into one that was average at best by harvest.
Agronomists answer farmer questions about the role of nitrogen and other nutrients in lessening the potential impact of yield robbers such as southern rust and tar spot in corn.