Insects

Soybean Gall Midge Emerges As Top-Tier Threat

Mon, 11 May 2026 20:19:27 GMT

Soybean gall midge is no longer just a curiosity or annoyance for many Midwest farmers. The pest is chewing into yield and profitability for soybean growers across parts of at least seven states – Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota.

Iowa State University Entomologist Erin Hodgson reports the pest’s footprint is significant, present in at least 42% of the 45.4 million acres of soybeans farmers harvested across the seven states in 2025.

“At least 19 million soybean acres are potentially impacted by this pest,” Hodgson says, noting that the pest continues to spread. Eight new counties were confirmed in 2025, with five of those being in Iowa .

According to a recent farmer survey led by University of Nebraska Entomologist Doug Golick, the pest has become a major threat in parts of Nebraska. “In the last year or two, soybean gall midge is approaching as near high of concern as herbicide-resistant weeds for survey respondents,” Golick says.

Since 2018, the soybean gall midge has spread to 185 total counties in seven states, including five new counties in Iowa this past year, according to Erin Hodgson, Iowa State University Extension entomologist and professor.

(Erin Hodgson)

Look For Small Orange Or White Larvae

Damage from the insect starts at the base of the soybean plants, largely out of sight. Adult midges emerge from the ground in May and June, then seek out tiny fissures in young soybean plants near the soil line to lay eggs, according to Thales Rodrigues da Silva, a master’s student at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

The larvae cause severe, localized yield losses from 20% to 100% loss along field edges and 17% to 50% reductions in entire fields average under heavy infestation, according to University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Extension. The larvae – small, orange worm-like pests – feed inside the base of the stem, causing plants to wither, die, and lodge (break), with damages sometimes extending 100+ feet into fields. Scouting for the pest should occur after the second trifoliate (V2) growth stage, according to the Crop Protection Network.

This damage in a soybean plant at the soil level shows the result of soybean gall midge larvae feeding.

(University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension)

Because the pest often feeds along field edges, the damage in affected plants is often mistaken for issues caused by compaction or herbicide injury, according to Stine Seed Company .

To confirm the pest’s presence, Stine agronomists recommend digging up compromised soybean plants and splitting open the stem. If white or orange larvae are found feeding within the inner layers, growers should check the Soybean Gall Midge Alert Network tracking system to determine whether the pest has been reported in their area. Next, they should contact their local Extension specialist to help confirm the diagnosis and report the finding if their county is not yet documented in their area.

Cultural Practices Show Promise

Unfortunately, there are few strategies to manage and control soybean gall midge, according to Tony Lenz, Stine technical agronomist.
With no labeled, consistently effective in-season insecticide program and no established treatment threshold, researchers are testing cultural and mechanical tactics that might give farmers at least partial relief.

Tillage ahead of planting — a tough sell in no-till systems — shows some promise in reducing early infestations in current-year soybean fields.

“Turns out that disking alone, at least in (our) study… did reduce infestation,” says Justin McMechan an entomologist and associate professor at UNL.

“There’s a significant reduction as we move from no-till to that… where it’s just disked and planted into, and then disking and hilling (a practice used in growing potatoes), which really is effective, because you’re covering up the infestation site,” McMechan adds.

He notes that even subtle changes in seedbed shape may help by covering fissures or altering microclimates at the stem base.

On planters running row cleaners, McMechan says adjustments at field edges might be one of the more accessible tools.

“There are not huge differences, but they are statistically significant,” he adds.

Field edge management has been another area of experimentation, including mowing or managing dense vegetation next to infested fields. Results are mixed, but McMechan says there are situations where mowing modestly cuts pressure.

“Nebraska saw on occasion where mowing would reduce infestation and lead to marginal yield benefit… we’re talking like 6-bushel differences,” he says, adding that weather and nearby corn canopy can override those gains.

There are no insecticides currently available to control soybean gall midge. A combination of cultural practices and mechanical efforts is likely the best option, for now, to stop or slow the pest.

(Justin McMechan)

Scientists Evaluate ‘Out-Of-The-Box’ Practices

Other work by researchers is pushing even further outside the box to find control measures. At UNL, graduate research assistant Kristin Heinrichs Stark is testing whether a biodegradable surface barrier called BioWrap can physically trap larvae in the soil and prevent emergence.

The work is early-stage and raises reasonable questions about cost and field-scale application rates, but it points to the kind of layered, non-chemical tactics Extension researchers say will likely be needed to address the pest.

Even as these cultural and physical strategies are developed, Hodgson reminds farmers that the ag industry still lacks any clear control option once larvae are inside the soybean stem.

“We really don’t have a treatment threshold, or a rescue treatment option at this time,” she says. “We know that the soybean gall midge certainly can cause yield losses, plant death, and that directly relates to yield. But we don’t really have great answers on like, how many plants does it take? How many larvae per plant (causes yield loss)?”

For now, farmers dealing with soybean gall midge are being asked to combine careful field scouting, crop rotation, and targeted cultural tactics to address the pest as the research community races to find answers and close those gaps.

Specialists from three Midwest universities provided the latest updates on soybean gall midge (SGM) this spring in a webinar, available at the link below:

The 20-Bushel Wake-Up Call One Farmer Is Using To Boost Soybean Yields

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:42:59 GMT

For years, Stephen Butz watched his corn yields climb while his soybeans stalled. The numbers didn’t lie: corn was steadily improving, while soybeans were “average at best,” he recalls, running hot and cold from year to year with no clear pattern.

“Our soybeans were just plateauing,” says Butz, who farms near Kankakee, Ill.

The turning point for Butz came several years ago on a 120-acre field split between two soybean varieties — 80 acres on the north side and 40 acres on the south. Everything matched: planting date, field conditions, management. The only difference was the variety planted.

At harvest, the 40-acre section of the field was 18 to 19 bushels per acre better.

A talk with Butz’s seedsman revealed the answer: the higher-yielding soybeans carried the Peking source of resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN). That single difference explained nearly 20-bushels-per-acre the farm had been losing to SCN for years.

“Honestly, it was just one of those deals where our seed guy had said, ‘Hey, this is a good number.’ So we’d planted the variety kind of naively,” Butz says. “But lo and behold, it was a huge benefit for us and showed us a problem we had on this farm and other farms, too.”

With the initial finding of SCN, Butz started soil testing to identify how significant the problem was across his farm. Surprisingly, soil tests revealed SCN populations ranging from the low hundreds to as high as 5,000 per sample.

“We’ve got a good amount of farms in that 3,000 to 5,000 count, which is an extremely high amount that I need to address,” says Butz, who samples fields ahead of planting.

Spring 2026: Going 100% Peking

After splitting acres for several years between non-GMO and Enlist soybeans, Butz made a decisive shift to the latter for 2026 as the non-GMO soybeans do not carry resistance to SCN.

“This spring, we are going with 100% Peking,” he says

For Butz, the move is less about chasing bonus bushels of soybeans and more about stopping the hidden losses SCN has been causing. He’s certain he’s left a lot of yield potential on the table in previous seasons.

“We’re not so much adding bushels (with the Peking) as we expect to relieve the stress that’s been taking bushels away,” he says.

Going all-Peking this season is only part of his management plan. The other piece is rotating more between corn and soybeans and, over time, between different SCN technologies, including Peking and PI 88788.

Butz’s cropping pattern follows a rough structure of thirds in any given year: about a third of his total acres in corn or soybeans and another third in continuous corn. That same structure drives his soil sampling schedule and will, in the future, he says, guide how he rotates SCN resistance traits across the landscape.

He also hopes to bring new technology into the mix, including the new SCN solution on the way from BASF Agricultural Solutions, called Nemasphere. It is the first-ever biotech trait designed specifically to address SCN.

Unlike traditional native resistance found in PI 88788 and Peking, Nemasphere is based on a transgenic trait — a Cry14 protein engineered directly into the soybean — explains Hugo Borsari, BASF vice president of business management for seeds in North America.

Beyond Yield: Logistics And Longevity

For Butz, the case for more soybeans, and especially better-protected soybeans, isn’t just agronomic. It’s logistical and financial.
Soybeans help spread out workload during planting and harvest, he explains, easing the strain of managing continuous corn acres. They also inject rotation into fields that might otherwise lean too heavily to continuous corn.

“Years of continuous corn in some spots is fine, but rotation is obviously better,” he said during a recent panel discussion hosted by BASF.

Like he found out by accident, Butz says he believes many other growers might be losing significant yield to SCN without realizing it.

“You might live in an area that you raise 75-bushel beans all the time, or 80-bushel beans, and that’s amazing. But what if the potential is 90 or 100 bushels?“ Butz asks. “There’s plenty of people out there that might be losing 10, 15 bushels off the top, and that adds up fast. You’re freaking losing $100 an acre pretty quick that would help a lot with your bottom line.”

Are You Planting Second-Year Soybeans And Skipping Corn?

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:26:56 GMT

As input prices and markets fluctuate, many U.S. farmers are considering a shift from corn to soybeans this season. For some, like northwest Missouri farmer Todd Gibson, continuous soybeans aren’t just a one-year pivot—they are a long-term strategy to capture ROI on challenging soils.

Gibson, based near Norborne — a farming community that proudly bills itself as the “Soybean Capital of the World” — keeps a traditional corn-soybean rotation on his Missouri River bottom ground. But most of his fields with tougher, gumbo-type soils haven’t seen a corn planter in two decades.

“Growing corn on some of this heavy ground just doesn’t pay,” Gibson explains. “I’ve got some fields that have been in continuous soybeans for 20-plus years now.”

More Second-Year Soybeans In U.S. Farmers’ Plans

Gibson says he will grow more soybeans this season and on his better ground. “I’m going to cut my corn acres maybe in half. I’ll have more beans on the better dirt this year, mainly because of input prices,” he says.

Other U.S. farmers – many without Gibson’s experience – are looking to grow second-year soybeans. The Allendale Report released March 18 says private acreage estimates point to a shift toward more soybeans this season, notes Rich Nelson, chief analyst. He estimates U.S. corn planted area at 93.678 million acres, down about 5.1 million acres from 2025, while soybean acres are pegged at 85.659 million acres, up roughly 4.4 million acres over last year.

In southern Illinois, farmer and broker Sherman Newlin says the conversations he has with farmers these days are dominated by input costs and fertilizer availability concerns. While some tell him they’re sticking to their corn-bean rotations, others are considering a 100% shift to soybeans. Newlin is keeping his options open.

“I’m not planning on switching, but we’ll see,” he says. “We’ve still got a few weeks to go where we can swap out seed if we need to.”

Iowa Soybean Association Agronomist Lucas DeBruin says the farmers he works with in the state are sticking with their regular rotation and planting corn if that’s what the original plan was for this season.

“We use a lot of fall anhydrous here, so most guys are pretty locked into growing corn,” DeBruin says. “A lot of them also need the corn for livestock feed. Sometimes you can still squeeze a little bit more margin out of corn than the soybeans,” he adds, “and guys like growing corn more than soybeans. It’s more fun to pick corn.”

Look Before You Leap: The Ferrie Checklist

For farmers looking to change their seed order, Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie suggests taking a hard look at your balance sheet and your fields first. Here are some of his key recommendations:

Consider What You’ve Invested To Date: If you’ve already applied fall anhydrous or dry fertilizer for a corn crop, the “switch to beans” math doesn’t work. “You can’t afford to go to beans, because you’ve already spent the money,” Ferrie contends.

Account for the Yield Penalty: In a beans-after-beans scenario, Ferrie tells growers to expect a 5-to-7-bushel yield drag due to more stress from potential disease, insect and weed pressure. His question: “If you take 7 bushels off your bean yield, does it still cash flow against your corn APH?”

The Management “Claw Back": You can potentially mitigate some of the yield penalty in second-year soybeans by moving your planting date up from May to April, Ferrie says. Early planting helps the crop get an earlier and longer flowering period which can help recover some of the lost potential.

One morning this past week, Ferrie noted that the market was leaning back toward corn and that the see-saw between crops could continue this spring — another factor to keep in mind.

“Looking at the markets this morning, I think a lot of guys would prefer growing corn at $4.90 than beans at $11.10,” he contends.

The Continuous Soybean Playbook

For Gibson, success with continuous soybeans works based on a disciplined management system he relies on every year:

Fertility is Foundational. Even if you shift from corn to soybeans, Gibson says be aware that the beans could require more nutrients. He monitors his soil fertility closely, noting that continuous beans often require extra sulfur, phosphorus and potassium. He also keeps a close eye on micronutrients to ensure the crop won’t hit a hidden yield ceiling.

Non-Negotiable Seed Treatments: In continuous soybeans, the soil is more likely to become a reservoir for pathogens. Gibson hasn’t put a bare seed in the ground in 20 years. “Seed treatment guarantees me 100% replant,” he says. “It lets you sleep better at night knowing that if you get a heavy rain, you have that insurance to fall back on.”

Row Spacing and Canopy: Gibson plants in 15-inch rows at a rate of roughly 130,000 seeds per acre. The goals are quick emergence and a quick canopy. He believes a fast-closing row is your best defense against weeds and helps preserve soil moisture in the heavy gumbo. Seed treatment use and regular scouting help him feel confident in using narrow rows.

Keep Your Boots In The Field: In a corn-bean rotation, the “break” in the cycle helps farmers manage various diseases, insects and weeds. In continuous soybeans, you lose that advantage.

Gibson compensates by routine scouting and being prepared to address problems. “If you hear your neighbors have bug pressure, assume you will, too,” he says. “Don’t have the attitude that you can ‘get by,’ because you probably won’t.”

He has similar thoughts regarding weed pressure – “be proactive.” His program typically starts with a pre-emergence/burndown or early post application, with residual herbicides used to hold back weeds. If weeds break through, he is prepared to return with a post pass.

“We kind of wish sometimes we didn’t have to worry about weeds so much,” he says. “But if you don’t, then next thing you know, you think, ‘Oh, I wish we would have sprayed.’”

The Genetic Advantage: The final piece of the puzzle for Gibson is the advancement in soybean technology. He recalls the days when he says Williams 82 was his only real option for continuous soybeans. Today, advanced traits have made managing weeds and disease in continuous systems much more manageable, he notes.

On his continuous soybean acres, Gibson consistently sees yields average in the 50-to-60-bushel range. When he factors in the lower input costs compared to growing corn on heavy gumbo ground, he believes the decision to go with continuous soybeans is a good one. For Gibson, it’s not about following a trend— it’s about knowing what his land does best and having the management practices in place to succeed.

Making the Invisible Seen: How Artificial Intelligence is Unmasking Soybean Nematodes

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:21:03 GMT

Nematodes are nearly impossible to see with the naked eye, but their impact on soybean yields is about to come into clear focus. Thanks to a new digital tool from Syngenta called Nema Digital, the invisible is becoming visible.

The technology uses satellite imagery and artificial intelligence (AI) to scan soybean fields for crop stress that mimics nematode damage. According to Kirt L. Durand, PhD, Syngenta digital ag solutions R&D manager, the goal is to bridge the gap between what a farmer sees and what is actually happening in crops beneath the soil surface.

“Farmers might not even know that they’re losing yield due to this microscopic pest, and that’s what this technology is really all about – providing awareness,” he says.

How the Algorithm “Thinks”

Nema Digital is a satellite-based algorithm trained to distinguish nematode pressure from other common crop-production headaches like nutrient deficiencies, soil compaction, or simple field anomalies. By analyzing multiple years of historical satellite data, the system searches for specific patterns that match known nematode behavior and damage.

For farmers and retailers, the process is designed to be hands-off. Syngenta only needs basic information—field boundaries and crop history—much of which is already automated for those using the Syngenta Cropwise platform.

“Really, most of this is very automated at this point, very little input required from the farmer,” Durand says.

Once the data is incorporated, the AI filters out any visual noise.

“When we get done, it narrows it down and says, with high accuracy 90% of the time, this is going to be a problem caused by nematodes,” Durand says.

The Limits of the Soil Probe

While traditional soil sampling has been the standard tool to check for nematodes, Durand notes research shows how easy for a sample to miss them.

He points to research from Iowa State University nematologist Greg Tylka, which shows that nematode egg counts can vary wildly just a few feet apart. You could pull a core sample that looks clean, while two feet away, thousands of eggs are feeding on your profits.

“You can imagine that if you’ve been looking for nematodes simply by soil sampling, it’s not accurate enough,” Durand says.

Protecting the Bottom Line

The financial stakes of nematode pressure are high. Research from The SCN Coalition indicates that nematodes commonly cause a 25% yield loss in infected soybean fields, but in severe cases—or when multiple species like root-knot and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) team up—that loss can skyrocket past 70%.

“When you have multiple species of nematode present, the impact on soybeans tends to be even more severe than just SCN alone,” Durand says.

One way Durand says farmers and retailers will be able visualize that impact is to pair Nema Digital results with yield maps. By overlaying the nematode output on harvested yield, Durand says growers and retailers often can see a clear connection between areas flagged for nematode pressure and zones of lower yield.

“You can actually see in the field where we identify that you have a nematode problem, and if you put a yield map on it, we’ve seen that those areas tend to have lower yields versus the average yield for that entire field,” he says.

Commercial Launch In 2027

While Nema Digital is being piloted through select retail partners and their farmer customers in 2026, Syngenta expects a broad commercial launch next year.

For soybean growers wondering about the return on investment for the technology, Durand stops short of assigning a specific dollar figure. But he stresses that identifying nematode pressure is the first step to protecting yield with available tools, including Syngenta’s new broad-spectrum nematicide seed treatment, Victrato.

Ultimately, Durand’s message to growers is simple: don’t confuse “invisible” with “absent.”

“The issue is out there,” he says. “We want to help farmers be aware of it and what they’re losing.”

Syngenta To Exit Global Paraquat Production

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 16:43:55 GMT

Syngenta has announced it will cease global production of the herbicide paraquat by the end of June. The decision marks a significant shift for the company, which first brought the active ingredient to market more than 60 years ago.

According to a company news release, the move is driven by an increasingly competitive global landscape. The rise of generic products has eroded Syngenta’s competitiveness in manufacturing the herbicide. Today, paraquat is registered for sale by more than 750 companies worldwide and accounts for less than 1% of Syngenta’s total global sales.

UK Facility Will Advance Plinazolin Technology

Following an asset review, Syngenta is phasing out production at its Huddersfield, UK, site—its only manufacturing facility for paraquat globally.

Despite the closure of the paraquat unit, Syngenta remains committed to the UK location, recently completing a £50 million (approximately $63 million) investment to manufacture its advanced Plinazolin technology at the site.

Plinazolin is a new insecticide active ingredient intended to support resistance management across a wide range of crops. The company reports the technology is now cleared for use at the federal level and will enter the U.S. market pending individual state authorizations.

“This decision is about focusing our resources where they deliver the greatest value for our business and our customers,” said Mike Hollands, head of Syngenta global production and supply.

Syngenta Focuses On New U.S. Priorities

Paraquat has long been a staple in the U.S. farming toolbox, particularly for growers utilizing conservation practices like no-till farming. Syngenta maintains that the herbicide is safe when used according to registered label instructions and intends to work with partners and customers to ensure a smooth transition through the production phase-out.

The company stated its exit plan for paraquat aligns with its broader strategy to prioritize innovation in seeds, biologicals, and AI-enabled digital and precision agriculture solutions.

Regarding plinazolin, it will enter the 2026 growing season for U.S. farmers as a seed treatment, soil-applied formulation or foliar spray. Syngenta said it plans to market five products built on the technology:

Opello for corn rootworm control
Equento as a seed treatment for wireworm and other below-ground pests in cereals and pulse crops
Vertento for cotton, peanuts and onions
Incipio for a range of vegetable crops
Zivalgo for potatoes and tree fruit

All five products belong to IRAC Group 30, a classification associated with novel chemistries for insect management. Syngenta stated that the formulations are designed to match the specific requirements of different crops and pests, and to integrate with existing application practices.

Western Corn Rootworm: How To Stay Ahead Of The Billion‑Dollar Bug

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 22:24:27 GMT

By the time you see corn plants falling over in late summer, it’s too late to change the outcome if it’s the result of below-ground feeding by western corn rootworm (CRW) larvae.

CRW larvae target developing corn nodal roots, pruning them as they grow. In severe cases, they can destroy entire nodes, reports Aaron Gassmann, Iowa State University entomologist and professor.

“They’ll feed on the actively growing node and prune it, or basically stop those roots from growing,” says Gassmann. “Sometimes they’ll actually prune it all the way back to the base of the plant. There can be complete nodes that are simply absent.”

The impact on corn yield can be severe. Research from the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin indicates that each missing node can reduce yield by 15% to 17%.

Moving Beyond ‘Plant It and Forget It’

While Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) technology has historically helped farmers control CRW, the pest has evolved. After over a decade of research, Gassmann warns that the “plant Bt and forget it” era is over. Effective management today requires a diversified strategy, particularly in continuous corn fields where the problem is most common.

Gassmann recommends using rotation, varied traits, and in-season scouting to break the cycle. His advice depends heavily on whether Bt resistance is already present in your fields. Here are the two scenarios he recommends:

Scenario A: You Likely Do Not Have Resistance Present

Don’t rely on Bt alone: Keep it in the toolbox, but diversify.
Rotate to soybeans: This remains the single best method to address the pest.
Stay vigilant: Follow refuge requirements and scout routinely.
Switch it up: Avoid long-term continuous corn with the same trait package.

Scenario B: You Suspect (or Have Confirmed) Resistance

Rotate immediately: Rotating out of corn is the necessary first step.
Change the plan for future corn: Consider non-Bt hybrids paired with insecticide, or carefully selected new traits (e.g., RNAi).
Be selective with sprays: Use adult beetle sprays only when scouting confirms they are well-timed and justified.
Don’t repeat mistakes: Assume that planting the same Bt hybrid again will only worsen the problem.

Why Bt Alone Is Struggling

Farmers often ask Gassmann why Bt has worked so well against European corn borer but has not been as effective with CRW. The difference lies in the “dose” of toxin, he says.

Bt traits provide a “high dose” of toxin for corn borers. However, Bt traits generally provide a lower dose of toxin for CRW. This allows CRW insects with even a single copy of a resistance gene to survive, mate with other survivors in the same field, and pass that resistance on to the next generation.

Gassmann and his colleagues have documented field-evolved resistance to all four Bt toxins used against rootworm (the three Cry3-based traits and the Gpp34/Tpp35 trait).

A Note on Soil-Applied Insecticides

While combining soil insecticides with Bt can improve standability and protect corn roots in the short term, Gassmann notes it is not a perfect cure:

It rarely reduces adult emergence significantly.
It continues to select for resistance (survivors are still Bt-resistant).
It adds input costs that may not pencil out for farmers’ bottom line.

In many cases, if Bt is clearly failing in your fields, it may make more sense to switch to non‑Bt hybrids plus insecticide, or better yet, rotate out of corn, rather than stack more cost on a compromised trait, he adds.

The complete podcast featuring Aaron Gassmann is available via the Crop Protection Network here .

To help farmers make informed decisions about their seed choices, Chris DiFonzo, professor & field crops entomologist at Michigan State University, provides the Handy Bt Trait Table for U.S. Corn Production , a valuable resource that outlines available Bt traits, their targets, and other key information.

Put More Spray Where It Pays

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 17:01:56 GMT

When you pull the sprayer into fields each spring, you’re banking that the product coming out of the nozzles will land where you need it to work. That’s where drift reduction adjuvants (DRAs) can become one of the most profitable—and protective—ingredients in your tank.

Consider what happens when you spray a crop protection product. Each nozzle throws out a spectrum of droplet sizes, from big “marbles” that fall quickly to tiny “dust” droplets that hang in the air, explained Greg Dahl, director of adjuvant education for the Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology (CPDA), during a recent Agricultural Retailers Association webinar.

Those tiny droplets, called driftable fines, are the troublemakers. They lose energy fast, ride the wind and can move well beyond your field. That’s not the case for larger droplets.

“Big droplets have to land. They are going to land, and they’re going to land close to where you spray,” Dahl says. “Small droplets, they probably are not going to land. They will lose their speed, and then they’ll just float in the air and go wherever the air goes.”

By design, DRAs shift more of your spray volume into larger, heavier droplets that are still effective but far less likely to drift. Across a wide range of nozzles, Dahl says industry research shows that adding a DRA can reduce the spray volume made up of driftable fines.

“Going across the whole system of nozzles, we get about a 50% reduction in the amount of spray volume that is made up of driftable fines,” he reports.

In practical terms, that means less product left hanging in the air and able to drift toward your neighbor’s crops, garden or yard.

There are at least four benefits to adding a good quality DRA in the tank.

(WinField United)

Drift Control Is Only Part Of The Benefit From DRAs

Many farmers are concerned that bigger droplets going out of the nozzles will automatically result in poorer coverage, particularly in post-emergence applications. In some cases — especially with ultra-coarse sprays — that’s true, Dahl says. Coverage can suffer, and penetration into the crop canopy can be weak. The right DRA, though, has been shown to increase droplets’ speed as they leave the nozzle, which improves penetration into the crop canopy.

“If we look where we have added in a DRA, it has actually increased the amount of speed of those droplets, so they’re going to go farther before they run out of energy, and we’re going to get better penetration of the canopy, better deposition farther down,” Dahl says.

Side-by-side comparisons in corn and soybeans using fluorescent dye tell the story more completely (see below). Without a DRA, Dahl’s slides illustrate that coverage is good on the top leaves of the crop but falls off quickly as the product moves down into the plant. With a deposition-type DRA, coverage is more balanced from the top to below the ear leaf in corn and throughout the soybean canopy.

A good quality DRA helps provide good product coverage all the way through the crop canopy, as noted in the plant on the right.

(Greg Dahl)

The ROI Of Improved Product Applications

Better coverage does show up in yield results, Dahl reports. Across hundreds of corn fungicide trials, for instance, he says adding a DRA to the tank delivered an average yield increase of about 5.7 bushels per acre compared to fungicide use alone.

In wheat, similar work showed nearly a 4‑bu.-per-acre advantage.

There’s also an economic advantage in terms of product retention. When you reduce the number of driftable fines, more of the active ingredient you paid for actually lands and stays in your field instead of drifting away.

Dahl says not all DRAs and nozzle combinations are created equal. Some thicker, polymer-type products can narrow the spray angle or even increase driftable fines with the wrong nozzle used, especially Venturi designs. That’s why choosing proven products matters. He says oil-emulsion DRAs, in particular, have shown they can cut driftable fines without creating an overly thick spray or sacrificing pattern quality.

“There’s almost 500 labels that recommend using CPDA-certified adjuvants, and there’s over 200 products that are CPDA-certified adjuvants,” Dahl says, referencing the website CPDA.com . “We think that’s where you should go for information, and we thank you for that,” he adds.

Iowa Farmer Battles Today's Pests While Eyeing Tomorrow's 'Mean Sixteen' Threats

Fri, 12 Dec 2025 18:55:16 GMT

For Worth County, Iowa, farmer Sarah Tweeten, the list of high-priority agronomic threats isn’t a political abstract — it’s a harsh reality she deals with every season.

Farming with her parents, Brian and Julie, and her uncle Roger, Tweeten has been steering the partnership toward more resilient cropping practices since joining the operation in 2021. This includes shifting from conventional tillage to strip tillage and splitting nitrogen applications.

The changes are part of a broader mindset: Protecting yields today from weeds, disease and insects while aggressively preparing for the next generation of agronomic threats. This forward-thinking approach is what led Tweeten to Washington, D.C., earlier this week as a Farm Journal Foundation farmer ambassador to help introduce a new report: “ The Mean Sixteen: Major Biosecurity Threats Facing U.S. Agriculture and How Policy Solutions Can Help. ”

Today’s Battles and Tomorrow’s Warnings
Researched and developed by Stephanie Mercier, PhD, the report takes an in-depth look at 16 significant pest issues U.S. farmers face now or could realistically in the future.

Tweeten is already battling a couple of the problems that underpin the urgency behind the research. For example, Palmer amaranth (pigweed) is gaining ground in her fields and across Iowa. The pervasive broadleaf weed can drastically reduce yields, with studies showing corn yield reductions between 11% and 91% and soybean yield reductions of 17% to 68%.

“We’ve struggled with pigweed as it continues to establish more resistance to our herbicides in our toolkit,” Tweeten says.

Two additional agronomic issues the report details include:

1. Asian Soybean Rust. First detected in the U.S. in Louisiana in 2004, this fungal disease has spread to southern states like Georgia and Mississippi. Scientists warn that warming winters could enable its migration to the Midwest, adding to existing disease pressures.

2. Corn Ear Rot. It can lead to aflatoxin production, making corn unmarketable and posing risks to humans and livestock. Aflatoxin is an issue Pickens County, Ala., farmer Annie Dee says is an ongoing problem for corn growers in her area.

“If we have aflatoxin, it can be impossible to sell the corn,” says Dee, also a Farm Journal Foundation Farmer ambassador.

A more recent threat she references is the impact of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu) on local poultry farms.

Since January 2022, HPAI has been confirmed in a commercial or backyard poultry flock in all 50 states.

(USDA)

“An important market for us is poultry feed meal, so that’s a constant worry. The trickle-down effect is if we can’t move our corn then we can’t meet our financial obligations,” Dee adds.

Despite agricultural R&D offering a high ROI — $20 in benefits for every $1 spent — the Farm Journal Foundation report notes public funding for ag research has been declining over the past two decades.

“Farmers urgently need sustained support for aflatoxin research and prevention because these risks threaten our yields, our markets and the trust consumers place in American agriculture,” Dee says.

U.S. public spending on ag research and development has been falling for two decades.

(USDA-ERS)

African Swine Fever Has ‘Devastating Potential’
Looking to the future, Tweeten says she is concerned about African swine fever (ASF) and its potential to impact crop farmers as well as hog producers. The highly contagious swine disease hasn’t been detected in the U.S. mainland, but it isn’t far away. ASF has been confirmed in the Caribbean countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, roughly 700 miles from Miami, Fla.

“Being a farmer from Iowa, where we have probably eight times the amount of pigs as we do people, an outbreak of ASF would be just devastating to our state,” Tweeten says.

Hogs are among the biggest customers for the corn and soybeans Tweeten and her family grow. If African swine fever were to shut down hog production or exports, it wouldn’t just be a blow to livestock producers – it would hurt the entire agricultural community, she contends.

Read about 5 livestock diseases that could impact U.S. food security and economic stability.

Food Security Is National Security
When it comes to justifying funding for ag research, Tweeten knows there’s competition for every federal dollar. But she believes agriculture deserves a front-row seat — not only because of its economic weight and impact on farmers, but because of its role in national security.

“There’s that argument that food security is national security,” she says. “If there’s one thing COVID made us aware of, it’s that a disruption to our food chain can be terrifying, quite frankly.”

The pandemic made consumers and policymakers more aware of supply chain vulnerability. In 2020, the shock to the supply chain came from a human disease and logistical bottlenecks.

(Sarah Williams Photography)

Next time, Tweeten says, the disruption could just as easily come from animal or plant disease — whether African swine fever in hogs, Asian soybean rust or some other pathogen in crops. She worries about scenarios where farmers could face a fast-moving disease or crop pest while critical tools are still hung up in regulatory delays.

Her message: Farmers need a full toolbox, not one that’s half-built by the time a threat arrives.

“Ag needs to be in a good position when these sorts of emerging diseases and pests come into the country,” she says, “to have the tools in our toolbox ready for farmers to pull out.”

About the Farm Journal Foundation
The Farm Journal Foundation is a farmer-centered, non-profit, nonpartisan organization established in 2010. It works to advance agricultural innovation, food and nutrition security, conservation, and rural economic development.

New Insect Control Tool Now Available for Use In Corn, Cotton & Cereals

Thu, 04 Dec 2025 21:04:08 GMT

A new insect control tool from Syngenta, Plinazolin, is now registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for use in a variety of broad-acre and specialty crops including corn, cotton, cereals, vegetables and tree fruit.

Plinazolin is the trademark name for the active ingredient isocycloseram, a member of the  Insecticide Resistance Action Committee’s Group 30 .

This group of insecticides is known as GABA receptor antagonists. Plinazolin is formulated to control insect pests by contact and ingestion to quickly stop feeding.

The company spent 12 years researching and developing the product, as well as testing it in more than 3,000 U.S. trials, according to Elijah Meck, Syngenta technical product lead.

For the 2026 season, growers can purchase the product – which Syngenta reports will power five separate insecticide products – as a seed treatment, soil-applied insecticide or foliar-applied insecticide. The product is available for use subject to state approvals.

The five individual products and some of the key pests each one controls, include:

Opello : This soil-applied insecticide provides revolutionary control of corn rootworm, consistently helping corn yield up to 27 bu/A more than untreated¹, while its highly tank-mix compatible formulation allows growers to leave equipment clogs and slowdowns in the past.
Equento : This insecticide seed treatment offers a flexible and compatible option to terminate wireworms and suppress other below-ground pests, ultimately improving plant stand and helping a grower’s bottom line.
Vertento : One of the toughest insect pest fighters in its class, this foliar-applied insecticide for cotton, peanuts and onions delivers a fast-acting, knockout punch to insect pests including plant bugs, thrips and mites.
Incipio : With impressive residual strength to take the guesswork out of insect control, this foliar-applied insecticide for brassica, leafy, fruiting vegetable and cucurbit crops delivers a heavy-duty takedown of tough insect pests.
Zivalgo : This foliar-applied insecticide can lead the way for potato and tree fruit insect pest management with unmatched, broad-spectrum control of Colorado potato beetles, codling moth, citrus thrips, spider mites and more.

Syngenta notes in a statement that each formulation has been specifically designed to maximize performance based on crop needs, pest pressure and application method.

More information on the products is available at Syngenta-US.com/social .

Reference:
¹n = 8 trials with location of IA(3), WI, IL, KS, SD, MN, average injury of 1.51 and Internal and University Cooperator Field Trials 2022-2024.

Corn Yield Champions Share Their Top 4 Hybrid Selection Strategies

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 19:56:12 GMT

Yield potential is always top of mind for farmers in the middle of evaluating and selecting corn hybrids for the next season, and this year is no exception. If anything, farmers are more tuned in than ever on hybrid evaluation, given the outlook for commodity prices in the year ahead.

Here are four ways David Hula and Randy Dowdy are approaching their hybrid selection process for 2026 and, in sharing, they hope their information will be helpful to you as well.

1. Balance yield potential with the other top two or three agronomic benefits you need.
“My No. 1 focus for a hybrid is it had better be standing when I get ready to harvest it, because there is nothing more miserable than having to take more time and risk equipment damage in harvesting down corn,” says Dowdy on the latest Breaking Barriers With R&D podcast.

His second priority is grain quality. Dowdy says he studies data from hybrid field trials and the performance of hybrids he tests on his own farm to evaluate plant health and what vulnerabilities they might have to specific diseases and insects common to the area.

His third priority is yield. While this ranking might differ from what most agronomic experts recommend, Dowdy puts it in perspective this way:

“We can make high yields with nearly all the hybrids out there that fit our farm today, so for me it’s more about managing the risks associated with them than just the yield potential alone,” explains Dowdy, who farms near Valdosta, Ga.

Dowdy and Hula share more insights on how they pick hybrids during their discussion earlier this week on AgriTalk:

2. Select hybrids for broad acreage use only if you have tested them on your own ground first.
Hybrids change so quickly today that Hula says it’s more important than ever to have evaluated new seed technology on your own ground.

“I challenge growers to try just a couple, three to five, new hybrids and evaluate them,” says Hula, Charles City, Va. “The results from your own personal management style, soil type, and weather conditions are going to give you the best data.”

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie agrees with Hula.

“I’ve seen the same hybrid vary by 20 bu. to 40 bu. per acre because of different management practices used in a company test plot versus a farmer’s field,” Ferrie says. “Few farmers do plots, but the cost of seed today makes it worthwhile.”

Hula adds that he makes a point to split his planter with two different hybrids. “So when we’re going across most of our acres, that’s a way for us to compare a hybrid we know against a new one,” he says.

3. Look at a variety of performance data beyond your farm
While Hula and Dowdy are especially tuned in to how new technologies perform on their respective farms, they believe it’s still important to evaluate hybrid performance trial data companies provide.

“I like to consider how the trial is harvested, whether the data is just done by a yield monitor on a combine or with an actual weigh wagon,” Hula notes. “Sometimes the winning hybrid is not the one that the yield monitor says it is, so you have to be careful to filter out data that might not be accurate.”

Look for hybrids that perform consistently across locations and are well adapted over a wide range of climates and conditions, advises Jon LaPorte, Michigan State University Extension farm business management educator.

“Alternatively, evaluate data for testing locations nearest to you and your soil types. Make sure you consider at least three years of data for each hybrid. This will provide insight to how a hybrid performs over different weather scenarios. No two years are the same. Hybrids that are consistently performing at the top indicate that they are well adapted to various climates, LaPorte says in his article, Seed Selection: Beyond Yield and Disease Resistance.

4. Build relationships with seedsmen whose companies have a good product lineup for your area and who will help you succeed with their products.
Good seed dealers have integrity, a deep understanding of their company’s products, are good problem solvers and are looking for mutual success.

“Ask your seedsman what hybrids you need to be looking at,” Hula advises. “They’ll want to stack the cards in your favor and theirs, so they’re going to tell you the best hybrids to look at out there from start to finish.”

Talking to your seedsman and reading his company literature can give you some insights into product performance, but be prepared to ask more questions to get answers to the nitty gritty details about yield potential--especially for those new-to-you hybrids.

“Sometimes you have to read between the lines to figure out how a hybrid will perform,” Ferrie says. “With disease ratings, which can go from 1 to 9, the company literature might only use the 7 to 9 ratings and nothing lower because they know the competition would pick them apart otherwise. A good seedsman knows this information and will tell you the weaknesses to look out for, where to put that hybrid on your farm or whether you should even grow it,” he adds.

Your next read: 8 Expert Tips for Choosing the Best Seed Corn for 2026

Watch this week’s Breaking Barriers With R&D on YouTube . In this episode, lifelong farmers and founders of Total Acre, Randy Dowdy and David Hula, explore how technology, genetics, and innovation continue to redefine what’s possible on the farm.

New Seed Treatments Available For Soybeans, Cotton & Cereals

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:01:05 GMT

Farmers looking to address plant-parasitic nematodes and diseases in soybeans and cotton now have access to a new seed treatment from Syngenta. The product, branded as Victrato, has been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Syngenta reports Victrato features a new active ingredient, Tymirium, and will be “available in 2025 in preparation for the 2026 planting season, subject to state approvals.”

In soybeans, Victrato addresses Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) and a broad spectrum of nematodes, including soybean cyst nematode, root knot, reniform, lance and lesion.

“I’ve worked with this compound under field evaluation over the last 10 years, and I am thrilled for soybean growers to experience this never-before-seen level of protection,” says Dale Ireland, Syngenta Seedcare technical lead, in a prepared statement.

“Victrato preserves more yield than any other molecule available, and it protects against all life stages of nematodes: eggs, juveniles and adults. This stops in-season feeding and limits future populations, giving growers the most robust solution available,” Ireland says.

Victrato is also the first federally labeled seed treatment management tool for Red Crown Rot, according to Syngenta. In addition, the product “will fortify soybean plants through early-season suppression of important foliar diseases such as Septoria brown spot, frogeye leaf spot and target spot.”

Targeted Issues In Cotton
For cotton, Victrato addresses cotton root rot and nematodes, including root knot, reniform, lance and sting.

Syngenta reports root knot and reniform nematodes led U.S. cotton yield losses in 2023-2024, while Cotton Root Rot can cost Western growers up to $100 million annually in lost yield, fiber quality and harvest efficiency.

New Premix For Cereals
For the 2026 season, Syngenta will be offering CruiserMaxx Vibrance Elite, a fungicide and insecticide seed treatment premix. The product has been registered by EPA for use in the upcoming growing season.

The premix, positioned by the company as an upgraded formulation of CruiserMaxx Vibrance Cereals, provides protection from a broad spectrum of early-season seedborne and soilborne diseases and insect pests. In addition, the product will help cereal crops emerge “evenly with strong stand establishment and root mass and help maximize plant populations.”

CruiserMaxx Vibrance Elite includes two modes of action on Rhizoctonia, Fusarium and Pythium, including mefeboxam- and ethaboxam-resistant isolates.

“The mixture of trusted ingredients helps cereal crops emerge evenly with strong stand establishment and root mass, helping to maximize plant populations,” says Bryn Hightower, product lead for Syngenta Seedcare, in a prepared statement. “Compared with other seed treatments available on the market, we’ve observed an average of 18% greater plant stand and a 3.3 bushels per acre yield increase in Pythium-inoculated winter wheat,” Hightower adds.

Your next read: Nutrien Says Quality and Resilience Are Its Fertilizer Focus, Will Review Options for Its Phosphate Business

Drought Conditions Require Careful Attention To Fall Tillage Practices

Fri, 07 Nov 2025 17:57:39 GMT

With harvest now in the rearview mirror in many areas, farmers are focusing their attention on fall tillage. The soil type you’re working in and where you farm are making a big difference on how fall tillage is going, according to Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

Some fields in Illinois and surrounding states that had excessive rainfall last spring have ruts and compaction to address but are currently in the midst of D2 and D3 drought levels. With that challenge in mind, Here’s a look at some tillage options by system:

Strip-Till: In lighter soils – particularly light silt loams – Ferrie says farmers are creating good strip-till berms, with few to no chunks or clods that will have to be addressed next spring.

“These will mellow out and create a pretty decent seedbed next spring. Even though the soil is hard and dried out, the lighter soils are stripping nice,” he reports.

That’s not the case where farmers are working heavier ground with clay to clay-loam soils. Strip tilling in these soils is creating a rougher environment that Ferrie is afraid will lead to some tough seedbeds next spring.

“If you’re running a strip freshener next spring, much of this problem can be corrected, but only if you’re running that freshener before these large clods become dried clods in the spring,” he says. “Clods that get smashed into the furrow by the planter next spring will create some germination issues.”

If you use a strip freshener, one avenue Ferrie says you might consider is to bypass the fall strips and just freshen them in the spring to achieve a good seedbed. But if conditions continue to be dry going into next spring, he would advise farmers to conserve available moisture and just no-till the field.

Conventional-till: To eliminate ruts in conventional-till, use a chisel plow or disk ripper on cornstalks, then follow with a leveling pass next spring. Run a chisel plow at a slight angle across the wheel tracks to break up soil compaction.

In bean stubble with 4" ruts, use a soil finisher and level in the spring. If ruts are 6" to 8", use a chisel plow to fill them in first. If possible, spot chisel to fix only the areas in the field with ruts. Follow with a soil finisher pass next spring. Use aerial imagery from the growing season to help determine whether you can patch the field or if it all needs to be worked.

Vertical-till: In a corn-to-soybean rotation with ruts or severe pinch rows, use a chisel plow in the cornstalks followed by a vertical-till leveling pass next spring. When using a chisel plow, make sure you achieve full width shatter from shank to shank for optimum results, Ferrie says.

In a soybean-to-corn rotation, use an in-line ripper in bean stubble when dealing with pinch rows and 4" ruts. Run the in-line ripper at an angle to make sure you cross the ruts or pinch rows. If you run with the rows, it might not bust wheel tracks apart; it will only pick them up and set them back down. In these scenarios, it will likely take two passes with a vertical-till leveling tool next spring to eliminate the tracks.

In 6" to 8" ruts, don’t use an in-line ripper. Instead, Ferrie suggests using a chisel plow. If ruts are spotty, chisel them in first and then in-line rip the entire field, leaving a large portion of the field covered in residue. If deep ruts appear across the entire field, run the chisel plow across it all.

Be sure to respect land contour to eliminate erosion.

Deep ruts usually aren’t an issue in strip-till and no-till fields because the soil is more firm. However, take action to fix tracks and 2" to 4" ruts, as the benefits far outweigh the risks.

No-till: Ruts usually aren’t too big of an issue in no-till fields because the soil is firm. However, don’t let a 4" rut or pinch rows fool you. Both can be hard on ear counts the following year.

If you’re dealing with wheel tracks in a no-till soybean scenario, there’s a good chance freezing and thawing paired with a vertical-harrow tool will do the trick. If fixed, you can return to no-till the following year.

With 4" to 6" ruts in cornstalks followed by soybeans, plan to shallow chisel the field to achieve full width shatter and then level with a vertical harrow. Once fixed, the field can return to no-till the following year.

In soybean stubble with ruts in small portions of the field, patch it with tillage and continue to no-till the rest of the field. If pinch rows or ruts are present across the entire field, use vertical tillage to address the problem and then return to no-till in future years.

“Ultimately, in order to avoid long-term yield effects, fields might have to come out of no-till or strip-till to fix ruts and compaction issues,” Ferrie says. “Ruts often show up in aerial imagery for two to three years. As soon as the problems are fixed, the field can return to no-till or strip-till.”

Anhydrous Ammonia Considerations In Dry Soils
Without some rainfall in areas suffering from drought, Ferrie is concerned anhydrous ammonia (NH3) applications will be challenging to seal. In some cases, when growers are smelling ammonia a day after application, that means the product is making its way to the soil surface and being lost.

Ferrie says you should be able to stand out in the field as NH3 is applied and not see it or smell it. That was not the case this past week in some central Illinois fields.

“I saw one field that had cracks big enough that you could put your hand down in them. The anhydrous bar was not only smoking around the knives, gas was coming out through the cracks in the soil between the knives,” Ferrie reports.

Anhydrous ammonia will move in soils until it finds enough soil moisture to convert from ammonia to ammonium. In dry soils, an inhibitor will be ineffective because it is designed to stop nitrification and not volatility.

“That’s why growers wonder why they can smell ammonia leaking out of a dry soil when they use N-Serve. It doesn’t work like that. You’re not protected against volatility,” Ferrie explains.

Instead, N-Serve acts to slow down the bacteria that converts ammonium to nitrate, keeping nitrogen in the ammonium form longer.

European Corn Borer Populations Rebuild
Ferrie says he had a number of farmers call in this fall regarding certain hybrids that were dropping ears. Most of the fields contained non-GMO hybrids, and in many cases the problem was caused by European corn borer and the hybrid was not at fault.

Ferrie advises farmers to inspect ears from the fields in question, if still available, for telltale signs of the pest. “Look at that butt of the ear in the shank,” he says. “Corn borer will leave a tunnel in the shank, or through the center of the cob, coming out the butt of the ear into the shank.”

Ferrie says he is seeing populations of the pest starting to rebuild in areas where non-GMO corn has been grown multiple years.

“Corn borers have been gone so long, most growers have forgotten about them, or they’re too young to have farmed when corn borer was a threat,” he explains. “Inspecting some ears now will give you insights on what you’re dealing with and a leg up on what you need to plan for next season.”

Learn more of Ken Ferrie’s recommendations on how to address tillage, NH3 and pest control in his latest episode of Boots In The Field:

Your next read: Unpacking the Disappointment: 5 Reasons Some Iowa Growers Had Ho-Hum Corn Yields

Two Essential Factors For Preserving Corn & Soybean Quality In On-Farm Storage

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 21:20:08 GMT

As harvest finishes up, a high-stakes management process is getting underway inside countless on-farm grain bins. Farmers are working to keep corn and soybean crops in good condition until marketing opportunities hopefully improve.

Two key factors farmers will need to manage throughout the months ahead are temperature and moisture. Here is a number of recommendations Extension specialist offer to help growers in the process:

Temperature: A Guardian Of Grain Quality
Managing temperature in the bin is a cornerstone of effective grain storage. By carefully managing temperature levels, Ken Hellevang says farmers can significantly extend the quality of their stored grain and minimize the chance for incurring losses over winter.

“I like to say that for every 10 degrees that we cool the grain, we double the storage life,” notes Hellevang, emeritus professor of agriculture and biosystems engineering at North Dakota State University.

According to Iowa State University Extension , the ideal temperature range for storing grain during winter is between 30° F and 40° F.

If grain drops below 30° F, the risk of freezing and forming large chunks increases, which can cause problems when trying to empty the bin later, adds Reagan Tibbs , University of Illinois Commercial Agriculture Educator.

Monitoring and managing the grain temperature is a critical piece of grain storage, emphasizes Hellevang, who addressed the topic on a recent Crop Science Podcast Show .

He says maintaining an optimal temperature offers a couple of critical benefits:
1. Spoilage prevention: Hellevang says temperature variations within the grain mass can create convection currents, leading to moisture migration and spoilage. Consistent temperature control helps maintain grain quality by minimizing the risks associated with moisture buildup and heat retention.

2. Insect control: Most insect activity significantly decreases below 55°F, and insects typically enter dormancy at temperatures below 50°F, Hellevang says.

“For those farmers in the northern country, where we have cold temperatures, if we bring the temperature down to freezing or even a little below that, we can actually kill insects,” he adds.

Aeration should be done routinely throughout the winter to maintain cool and even temperatures in the bin, according to Iowa State University Extension . Uneven temperatures in the grain bin can occur when the grain mass isn’t cool enough going into winter, resulting in cooler grain along the bin walls and warmer grain in the core. This temperature difference can cause convection currents that deposit moisture on the grain surface, causing spoilage and crusting.

Other reasons for uneven temperatures in the bin include solar heating of grain under the roof and along the bin walls, as well as heating from insect and mold activity. Iowa State recommends leveling the grain surface to improve aeration and prevent issues caused by accumulated fines by spreading grain or coring the bin .

University of Minnesota Extension recommends covering fans when they are off to prevent severe weather and temperature changes from affecting the bin. Covers made of canvas, tarp, or even plywood can be used for this purpose.

Moisture Management Is Essential
Hellevang likes to remind farmers that there’s a difference between market moisture and storage moisture.

For corn, he says the market moisture is about 15.5%. But corn going into long-term storage, at or beyond 6 months, needs to be maintained at 13% to 14% moisture.

“We also need to be a little concerned about not getting grain too dry, because the drier it gets, the more brittle it becomes, and we see more breakage issues,” he says, adding: “The market really doesn’t reward you for bringing in 10% moisture corn. They’d like to be handling that 13%, 14% moisture corn.”

Hellevang adds that every region of the country is a “little different” on what they find are ideal moisture levels for grain in storage.

As part of maintaining ideal temperature and moisture levels, Tibbs tells farmers to keep an eye on potential moisture migration in the bin.

“What can happen is when the temperature difference between the outside and inside the grain bin exceeds 20° F, the moisture content in the bin can increase toward the top. That raises the risk of grain crusting, which can reduce grain quality and pose safety concerns when checking bins,” Tibbs explains.

Monitor Grain Throughout The Storage Period
Hellevang suggests checking stored grain every two weeks. While checking on the grain, measure and record the grain temperature and moisture content. Rising grain temperature may indicate insect or mold problems. Insect infestations can increase from being barely noticeable to major infestations in three to four weeks when the grain is warm, he adds.

Checking the grain moisture content is important because moisture measurements at harvest may have been in error due to moisture gradients in the kernel, grain temperature, and other factors. When checking the moisture content of stored grain, Hellevang advises following the manufacturer’s procedure for obtaining an accurate moisture measurement.

Your next read: Anhydrous Ammonia: One Small Mistake Can Have Life-Changing Consequences

Unpacking the Disappointment: 5 Reasons Some Iowa Growers Had Ho-Hum Corn Yields

Mon, 03 Nov 2025 22:44:33 GMT

A growing season that started with tremendous potential in east-central Iowa finished with yield results that left many growers in the area disappointed by average or below-average results, according to Agronomist Nicole Stecklein.

Stecklein details five key factors she believes contributed to disappointing 2025 yield results. Here are her key takeaways from this season as well as some recommendations for 2026.

1. A ‘planting date effect’ occurred: Stecklein says she is an early-plant advocate and likes to see farmers start planting when the soil is fit and a good weather forecast is in the cards.

“In eight years out of 10 years, that usually turns out pretty good. In a lot of cases, the early planted corn will be your best corn, but that wasn’t the case this year,” she says.

Early-planted corn, particularly those hybrids in early to mid-maturities, generally underperformed.

Stecklein identified two main culprits. First, there was considerable localized soil crusting. Even with rotary hoeing, significant variability in ear development and inconsistent pollination impacted the crop and contributed to yield loss.

A second culprit was that the earlier planted corn seemed to bear the brunt of later-season stresses, particularly from disease issues, heavy moisture and above-average temperatures.

Too much rain and disease were problems for Ward Hunter, Ogden, Iowa, especially southern rust. He told U.S. Farm Report’s Tyne Morgan that his early corn hybrid yields were disappointing, coming in at around 220 bu. per acre, even though he applied a fungicide.

“We were at about our APH,” he says. “If it hadn’t been for disease pressure, I think we could have been in the 270s or so [with early maturing hybrids] here in central Iowa.”

FBN Poll Results: This week's poll, with over 1,700 responses, shows 50% of participating FBN members seeing corn yields below expectations. Review the full results and share your thoughts: https://t.co/37lji8uYSc #farmersfirst #harvest25 #corn pic.twitter.com/LoijKZGnJ5
— FBN (@FBNFarmers) October 31, 2025

For farmers wondering if they should move to later planting dates across the baord in 2026, Stecklein says probably not. Instead, she says to continue to evaluate soils and weather conditions at planting.

Ken Ferrie offers similar advice to farmers in central Iowa and central Illinois. “My advice for farmers is if we have a green light in April, plant some corn,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

However, Ferrie says farmers shouldn’t be afraid to wait until May to get a green light from Mother Nature to start the planting process.

“We never know how the rest of the year will play out. So, breaking the planting window up is a good way to mitigate risk and take the jam out of the fall of having everything ready at the same time,” he explains.

2. High winds were a blow to corn performance: June brought a series of severe high-wind events to large swaths of east-central Iowa.

The damage manifested in root lodging, green snap, and willowing. Corn that had already tasseled before the winds hit fared better, thanks to better developed root systems and brace roots, Stecklein reports.

Conversely, corn that had not yet tasseled suffered the most severe root lodging and green snap, as its rapidly growing, brittle nodes were highly susceptible.

Willowing, which occurs where corn plants bend at the waist, proved to be a stealthy yield robber this summer. The stress from bending, particularly around the developing ear node, led to poorly pollinated ears with short husks, leaving grain exposed to elements, birds and disease, significantly impacting quality and yield.

Tons of sub 150 corn in our area. Harrison and Pottawattamie county Iowa. Too much wind/greensnap and too much diesese. It’s the crop that never was.
— Brandon Clark (@clarkbrandon44) November 3, 2025

While wind is an unavoidable reality across the state, Stecklein would advise farmers in consistently windy areas to consider prioritizing root and green snap scores when selecting hybrids for 2026.

“This is not a foolproof way to get around the wind. It’s just knowing that some hybrids have a lower possibility of getting hit by wind in a window when they’re vulnerable, because all corn is vulnerable. The wind is all about timing. But if you shorten that window, then you’re decreasing the chances that you’ll get hit at a vulnerable time,” she explains.

3. Heat took a bite out of yield potential. Another major factor impacting 2025 yields in east-central Iowa was the pervasive overnight heat during grain fill, specifically in July and August.

Stecklein says the general rule of thumb is for each night during grain fill that temperatures stay at 70 degrees Fahrenheit or above, your corn crop will experience about a 1% yield loss in each 24-hour period.

What happens is the result of a lack of equilibrium between the process of photosynthesis during the day and then respiration at night.

“During the day, the plant is taking sunlight and carbon dioxide and making sugars. It’s creating energy,” Stecklein explains. “Overnight, you have respiration occurring. Respiration is using energy to repair cells, And the rate of these processes is very temperature dependent.”

When nighttime temperatures remain high, the rate of respiration dramatically increases. This means the plant burns through its energy reserves much faster.

Stecklein says that in July and August, parts of east-central Iowa had 15 nights that stayed at 70 degrees or greater.

“If you’re good at math, that means a 15% yield loss. If you had 300 bushels to lose at tassel, that brings you straight down to 255, bushels, just based on overnight temperatures,” she says.

4. Disease pressure reached unprecedented levels for some farmers. The big gorilla this season was southern rust, which took most Iowa farmers by surprise.

”Southern rust is the one that everybody is talking about, because it’s so aggressive and because, honestly, in Iowa, we were not prepared for how aggressive it was going to be,” Stecklein says.

Unlike tar spot, southern rust is not a disease that overwinters in residue. It must “blow in” from the South, and it also needs corn to infect to complete its life cycle. For those reasons, Stecklein would advise Iowa farmers to not make hybrid decisions for next year based on concerns for southern rust.

However, she would advise them to take tar spot into consideration as they evaluate which hybrids to plant in 2026.

“If you are going to spray [a fungicide], you’re going to be OK if you do choose a hybrid that’s susceptible, because there are some very good hybrids out there that aren’t super tolerant to tar spot. Make sure that you’re planning on at least making one fungicide pass at tassel. But if you will not spray two passes of fungicide, do not choose a hybrid that has a very poor tar spot rating, because if we get the weather that’s very conducive to tar spot, you’re going to lose some bushels,” she adds.

5. Phantom yield loss showed up at harvest. Based on phantom yield loss data, Stecklein says there’s about 2 bushels lost per percent of moisture. How that translates into a yield loss: if you like to harvest at 22% moisture but the crop is at 16% moisture when you finally combine it, you’re looking at a loss of 12 bushels per acre.

If you find yourself consistently harvesting corn at a drier level than you want, Stecklein would say it’s time to adjust your hybrid maturities. If phantom yield loss isn’t a consistent issue you face, then you’re probably OK to stick with your current maturities.

Her final advice for 2026: “I keep wanting to say that every year I learn something unique, but at the end of the day, my key takeaways from every year have almost always been the same: if you plan for failure and if you give up, you’re going to be met with failure. However, if you are persistent through hardships and manage according to those hardships, you’re setting yourself up for success.”

Watch Stecklein’s recent video, Corn 2025: What happened , for more insights on the east-central Iowa corn results.

8 Expert Tips for Choosing the Best Seed Corn for 2026

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 16:08:43 GMT

Think of seed selection for next year as an opportunity for profit enhancement. With low commodity prices and higher input costs, identifying corn hybrids that are a good fit for your soil types and environmental conditions is more important than ever – and can give you a leg up on higher yields from the get-go next spring.

Here are eight top tips Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie offers that will help you in your seed corn selection process.

1. Put performance and yield performance above the price. Yes, seed corn is expensive, but focus on what the hybrid can deliver instead of how much cheaper one hybrid is over another and pencil out the potential ROI.

“If I ask a grower what hybrids he is going to plant and he reels off a list of maturity ranges, rather than specific hybrids or traits, I know he spent too much time looking for the best deal and too little time seeking the best performers,” Ferrie says.

2. Spread your risk. Midwest corn growers often plant their crop in five to seven days so don’t plant just one or two outstanding hybrids. That could create the unacceptable risk of all your corn pollinating at the same time and being subject to heat and other stresses that are present at that point.

“Not long ago, one hybrid had two big years, so growers planted a lot of it the following season,” Ferrie says. “Only then did they discover that the hybrid couldn’t handle 96°F temperatures during pollination and ear fill — it got kicked in the teeth on yield. That hybrid still won a lot of plots that year, but only in northern areas, where temperatures were cooler. If a disease problem had shown up, growers could have managed it by applying a fungicide; but you can’t manage against heat.”

3. Make new hybrids prove themselves. Don’t build your whole starting lineup for next season with hybrid rookies or one-hit wonders.

“Put a few of them on the bench, and keep them on a small number of acres until they prove their way,” Ferrie advises.

“Also, don’t throw out hybrids just because you’ve been told they’re old, and that the new kid is here to replace them. Keep those hybrids as long as they continue to perform, and make the new kids earn their way into the lineup through performance,” he adds.

Back to spreading risk — once your draft board is picked from multiple maturities, and are all-star performers, then group them into early- mid- and late-season hybrids so you have a large pool of hybrid candidates to choose from.

4. Use information from test plots. The purpose of test plots is to help guide your seed choices for next year. But you must know the right way to use the information.

“First, understand the difference between show plots and test plots,” Ferrie advises. “Don’t make your seed choices based only on show plots. Show plots have value in demonstrating higher-end genetics. But they are planted next to a road to show off hybrids in ideal conditions.

“Show plots may have received extra nitrogen and two fungicide applications. If you don’t sidedress nitrogen or apply fungicides on your own farm, show plot results may be meaningless to you.”

Study actual test plots that were planted with soil, climate and management practices similar to your own. Taking factors like these into account may add another 15 bu. or 20 bu. per acre, compared with picking hybrids based on general plot performance, Ferrie says.

Although test plots are valuable, it’s possible to rely on them too much, he cautions. “Weather makes hybrids shine,” he says. “Look at regional plot data over a period of years. It will tell you if a hybrid is not suited for your conditions, such as high temperatures.”

5. Make sure you are getting a mix of genetics. When analyzing test plot data, keep in mind that genetically identical hybrids may be marketed by several companies.

“I have seen growers plant the three or four top hybrids in local plots and then discover they all contained the same genetics, only from different companies,” Ferrie says. “That does not diversify risk.”

To avoid planting identical genetics from several companies, check the seed tags. Under the Federal Seed Act, companies are required to include the unique variety name (as opposed to the company’s brand name or number).

You also can ask your seedsman to help identify similar genetic lines sold by other companies. Or you can buy all your hybrids from one company.

6. Consider each field’s environment and match it to your hybrids. Look at each individual field and make a list of its strengths and weaknesses.

“We need to add players to the team that will help strengthen the weak areas in our present hybrid lineup,” Ferrie says. “In the process of truly identifying a field’s weaknesses and strengths, the farm management, operators, and the pest team must come together and compare notes.”

The reason to involve those various individuals or teams is because each one has a different perspective on what’s important and needed in a hybrid and in each specific field.

“Management may be looking at volume discounts or non-GMO contracts; whereas, the operating crew is looking at how tough it is to get corn up in a certain field or how quick it runs out of water in another. Likewise, the pest team may be concerned about diseases or resistant weeds that they are trying to control,” Ferrie explains.

7. Follow your plan and keep good records. “Often, I see growers lay out a nice plan, showing where each hybrid is going to go, based on soil conditions,” Ferrie says. “But in the stress of planting season, they fail to plant each hybrid where they intended.

“This leads to all kinds of unfavorable consequences. I’ve witnessed growers put a hybrid that resists deer damage next to a highway instead of next to their woods. Others plant herbicide-resistant hybrids where conventional hybrids were supposed to go, leading to misapplication of herbicides,” Ferrie says. “Losing track of which hybrids go where has caused some growers to plant their refuge hybrids without an insecticide.”
As you implement your plan, record keeping is critical.

“If planting conditions force you to deviate from your plan, be diligent in recording what you did. It will keep you from spraying a conventional hybrid with Roundup or Liberty herbicide or failing to apply an insecticide on conventional hybrids,” Ferrie says.

With newer planter monitors, you can build an as-applied map, showing what hybrid was planted in each field, on which date.
“If you have an older planter, you can record this information in a book in the tractor cab,” Ferrie says. “Some growers do both, in case they have a computer problem and lose some data.”

8. Make sure you utilize your best resource – your seedsman. Many farmers don’t use their seedsman enough, Ferrie contends.

He says there are a lot of good seedsmen out there, and they understand their products. Most have seen all of their hybrids under a variety of conditions and management styles, and they can relate that experience to your operation.

“Discuss your situation and your management techniques, such as your rotation, tillage and fertility program. Talk about your harvest schedule and things like how much wet corn you can handle,” he says.

Drill down and ask about hybrid strengths and weaknesses—like disease and insect resistance, drought tolerance, emergence and standability. “If you identify a top-yielding hybrid, ask your seedsman how you can farm out its weakness and manage around it,” Ferrie advises.

Darrell Smith contributed to this article.

Your next read: Manage Corn Yield Drag with Hybrid Selection

Green Stem Syndrome Poses Tough Harvest Choices for Soybean Growers

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 18:10:17 GMT

Soybean growers have been calling Ben Pieper the past couple of weeks, telling him how tough their bean crop is to cut this harvest. The problem many are citing – green stem syndrome.

“I’ll have somebody in Iowa tell me that ‘these are the best beans I’ve ever had on the farm, and they cut beautifully, and are absolutely phenomenal,’” says Pieper, an agronomist for Merschman Seeds. “Then, with the same exact bean two hours to the east, the growers are dissatisfied with them, saying they cut hard, and aren’t yielding quite as high as maybe a different bean that we have in the lineup.”

University of Minnesota Extension notes green stem syndrome is a tricky issue for agronomists and growers to address, as the exact cause is unknown. That makes the problem difficult to prevent or address effectively in-season, and impacts harvest decisions.

Taylor Dill says the disorder contributes to a delay in crop senescence (maturation) of plant stems while pods and seeds mature and ripen normally – a so-called “source to sink” issue in the plant.

How this problem develops: Stems and leaves (the sources) typically send nutrients to the pods and beans (the sinks). But when stress reduces pod or bean development or causes them to abort, the nutrients and moisture get stuck in the stems and don’t get allocated well. That keeps the stems green even after the beans are ready to harvest, explains Dill, a PhD student at Ohio State University, in a video .

Two Basic Options For Soybean Harvest
While green stem syndrome might not contribute to direct yield losses, harvesting affected soybeans turns into a slow, hard slog for growers, contributing to increased fuel and harvesting equipment maintenance costs.

Farmers with fields impacted by the syndrome have two basic options at harvest, according to Shaun Casteel, Purdue Extension soybean specialist, on the latest episode of the Purdue Crop Chat podcast .

One option is to go ahead and harvest the beans when the grain quality is likely at at its best.

The downside, says Casteel, “We have the nasty combination of around 9% to 10% moisture in beans with green stems and have to slow down the harvest.”

The tough going in fields means you’re likely to use more fuel and put extra wear and tear on the combine.

Your second option is to wait until a freeze and the stems turn brown before harvesting. The downside? You might lose a fair amount of yield.

“I’ve seen this week where we had some early beans where the pods are opening up and the seeds just shattered,” Casteel says. “It’s just a mechanism of survival because [the pod is] trying to save itself. If your fields weren’t ready yet, that’s probably not going to be the case, but if we catch another cycle of rain, or we get into these two to three cycles of wet-dry, wet-dry, that pod really gets to the point of shattering in the field before the combine even gets there.”

Mark Licht, Extension cropping systems specialist at Iowa State University encourages growers to harvest when soybeans have a good moisture content, despite the tough conditions.

“Make sure the sickle bar on the combine is sharp and well-maintained,” he says, in an online article . “Slower harvest speeds will be needed to account for more soybean biomass coming through the combine.”

A poll by Reuters estimated 58% of U.S. soybeans had been harvested as of Sunday, Oct. 12.

Some soybean varieties might be at more risk than others to green stem syndrome.

(Soybean Research & Information Network)

What Factors Contributed To The Syndrome This Season?
Pieper, citing University of Minnesota research, says there are a lot of theories about the causal effects of green stem syndrome — everything from plant viruses, low soil moisture, and potassium deficiency, to high plant populations, genetic mutations and insect damage.

He says he believes many of those issues are factors and that heavy stink bug feeding has been another significant contributor to the problem this year.

“There is a crap ton of stink bugs and grasshoppers and insects in the chaff,” says Pieper who has observed the pests’ impact on soybean crops while doing yield checks.

Environmental stressors, drought in particular, were another contributing factor this season in Ohio soybeans, adds Dill.

Farmers often ask agronomists whether fungicide use is involved in the development of green stem syndrome.

Ohio State Extension reports certain modes of action can have a “stay green” effect on soybeans that can delay senescence and can be confused or contribute to green stem.

Pieper and his colleagues might be on the fence with that finding. They note in their podcast, Cup Of Joe , that fungicides contributed to soybean yield benefits this year – especially on marginal ground – with increases of 7 to 10 bushels per acre in some cases.

Bottom line, there are conflicting views regarding the role of fungicides in the disorder and more research is needed to pin down a definitive answer.

Your next read: New Seed Treatment Offers A Solution to Soybean Cyst Nematode

New Seed Treatment Offers A Solution to Soybean Cyst Nematode

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 15:36:40 GMT

As farmers and retailers battle soybean cyst nematode (SCN), the emphasis continues to be on using an integrated strategy including resistant soybean varieties, crop rotation with non-host crops, and maintaining good soil fertility.

Now, farmers and retailers have a new tool available for use next spring: biotrinsic Nemora FP, an EPA-registered soybean bionematicide seed treatment from Indigo Ag, Inc.

Jon Giebel, vice president North America Commercial-Biologicals at the company, reports the product contains a naturally occurring Pseudomonas oryzihabitans bacterium that colonizes roots and shoots. After only a few weeks, the microbes coating each seed multiply into the millions around the roots and begin supporting the crop. The microbes also colonize SCN eggs, reducing the number of juveniles that will hatch and injure plants.

“In trials, [Nemora] delivered improved plant health metrics and compelling yield potential while offering growers a biological option that can benefit soil health in the process,” Giebel says in a prepared statement.

SCN is the most costly pest in U.S. soybeans today, routinely reducing yields in affected fields by 5 bushels or more per acre, according to the Crop Protection Network.

This photo shows a Rhizobium nodule (blue arrow) and several white SCN females (red arrows) on neighboring roots. Note the size difference and that SCN are much smaller than nodules. This pest is the number one yield-limiting biotic agent of soybeans in North America, estimated to cause U.S. producers $1.5 billion a year. The reason this pest is so insidious is because SCN can cause up to 30% yield loss with no significant aboveground symptoms.

(Kyle Broderick)

October Is SCN Action Month
Indigo Ag announced its new product on Monday, which marks the third National Nematode Day .

The month of October is designated SCN Action Month. For the fifth year, BASF Agricultural Solutions and The SCN Coalition are partnering to provide farmers with the latest insights, tools and resources to effectively manage SCN and protect soybean yield potential heading into the 2026 growing season.

BASF and The SCN Coalition recommend farmers proactively sample fields post-harvest for soybean cyst nematode symptoms to safeguard crop health and maximize their yields, in preparation for next year.

“The most sustainable management approach to minimize SCN yield loss is a multi-faceted plan that can include growing nonhost crops in rotation with SCN-resistant soybean varieties and use of nematode-protectant seed treatments on the soybeans,” says Greg Tylka, Morrill professor, Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology at Iowa State University, in a statement.

New Seed Treatment Option Available For 2026
Giebel says Nemora is a microbial seed treatment in flowable powder (FP) format for soybeans and is available for planter-box treatment or through Indigo’s CLIPS delivery system. It contains a naturally occurring Pseudomonas oryzihabitans bacterium that colonizes roots and shoots.

How Nemora works:

It stimulates Induced Systemic Resistance (ISR) and forms a biofilm that supports robust root colonization.
The biological colony prevents eggs on the roots from hatching, slowing the soybean cyst nematode lifecycle without disrupting beneficial nematodes in the soil.
Once in the soil, the Pseudomonas active in Nemora recruits a diverse and specialized community of plant growth-promoting bacteria to aid in plant development.

What soybean growers can expect:

Direct impact on SCN lifecycle: Average 68% reduction in egg hatch.
Longer tap roots, more root biomass, and whiter roots.
Thicker plant shoots and improved emergence.
No interference with nodulation.
No phytotoxicity or halo effect.
Nemora can provide the same yield advantage as products like chemical solutions available on the market.

West Nile Virus Activity Spikes to 20-Year High in the Midwest

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:05:26 GMT

Scouting cornfields now might net you a different problem than the insects you might have anticipated encountering. An Iowa State University researcher says there are “very high levels” of West Nile virus (WNV) trending in Iowa and other Midwestern states currently.

“This week had the highest observed WNV activity at this point in the summer observed in over 20 years. This trend is of serious concern for the next eight weeks when WNV transmission risks are the highest,” writes Erin Hodgson , ISU Extension entomologist specialist.

To date in 2025, there have been 219 cases of WNV reported in 29 states. In 2024, there was a total of 1,466 cases of WNV reported in the U.S., according to Vector Disease Control International.

In Iowa, data is generated from ongoing mosquito surveillance efforts coordinated by Ryan Smith, ISU associate professor and entomologist. Smith has implemented an interdisciplinary approach to examine mosquito immunity and mosquito-borne disease transmission.

Leading Cause Of Mosquito-Borne Disease
West Nile virus is transmitted through the bite of a Culex mosquito, commonly called a house mosquito. It typically picks up the virus by feeding on an infected bird. West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States.

In general, people do not spread the infection.

There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat West Nile in people. Fortunately, most people infected with the virus do not feel sick, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). About 20% of people who contract the disease will experience mild symptoms like fever, headache, and body aches.

In a small percentage of cases, the virus can cause serious neuroinvasive disease issues, such as encephalitis or meningitis, which can be severe and even fatal, the CDC reports.

People older than 60 and those with weakened immune systems are at highest risk for severe illness.

The CDC offers an interactive site where you can view and track the total number of human infections of WNV reported on a county-by-county basis. See current results in your county here .

Implement The Three Rs
To prevent mosquito bites, the CDC encourages people to practice the ‘Three Rs’:

REDUCE - make sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or other openings. Try to keep doors and windows shut. Eliminate, or refresh each week, all sources of standing water where mosquitoes can breed, including water in bird baths, ponds, flowerpots, wading pools, old tires, and any other containers.

REPEL - when outdoors, wear shoes and socks, long pants and a light-colored, long-sleeved shirt, and apply an EPA-registered insect repellent that contains DEET, picaridin, oil of lemon eucalyptus, IR 3535, para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone according to label instructions. Consult a physician before using repellents on infants.

REPORT – report locations where you see water sitting stagnant for more than a week such as roadside ditches, flooded yards, and similar locations that may produce mosquitoes. Your local health department or city government may be able to add larvicide to the water, which will kill any mosquito larvae.

Your next read: Southern Rust Has Infected Iowa Corn in ‘Likely Every County’

Artificial Intelligence Joins The Fight Against Weeds, Insects And Disease

Thu, 07 Aug 2025 19:45:30 GMT

The crop protection industry needs a reboot, according to Tony Klemm.

As CEO of Enko, a crop-protection startup, he says the company is taking a different approach to solving one of agriculture’s biggest problems – developing safe, effective and sustainable crop protection products that can be brought to the marketplace faster and more economically.

Traditional discovery pipelines for herbicides, fungicides, insecticides are not keeping pace with real challenges farmers face, such as resistance issues, he told Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk on Thursday.

A 2024 study funded by Crop Life International reports the costs associated with bringing a new active ingredient to major U.S. and European markets now top $300 million. In addition, the survey says the average lead time between the first synthesis of a new crop protection molecule and its subsequent commercial introduction is now over 12 years.

Part of the long development time required is related to regulatory hurdles. “There’s just increasing demand for meeting environmental safety needs, rightfully so,” Klemm says.

A Paradigm Shift
Enko, based in Mystic, Conn., is using artificial intelligence (AI) and a machine learning discovery platform to guide the company’s research and development efforts. Klemm describes the strategy as a paradigm shift from the current industry practices for how small molecule crop protection discovery has been done.

“We use DNA-encoded libraries, and these libraries allow our scientists to explore this massive, diverse chemical space in a very targeted, automated and expansive way,” he says.

The technology allows Enko scientists to look at billions of molecules and screen them for safety and efficacy and, in the process, develop them faster and more economically.

“We still have to take the regulatory journey that, right now, no one’s figured out a way to expedite,” he notes. “But getting to that regulatory queue faster and better on the front side is really what’s bringing us that cost savings, that efficacy and is going to allow for more products to be put into the regulatory queue in a faster manner.”

Progress To Date
So far, Klemm says Enko has delivered about 50 active programs that cover all facets of weeds, insects and disease. Many use novel or new modes of action that Klemm believes will help farmers fight resistance issues, such as herbicide resistance in Palmer amaranth and pigweed.

“We’re really working on how we can bring new modes of action to farmers, give them fresh tools to win that fight. And our chemistries work using fewer active ingredients, from perspective of the load on the acre, so we’re designing safer chemistry for the future,” he says.

Specifically, Klemm says Enko recently announced a new grass herbicide is in the pipeline for the European cereals market for control of black grass. The company also has conducted field trials for corn and soybean products in the U.S. that he anticipates are five to 10 years away from market launch, depending on how long they take to move through regulatory channels.

Your next read: Bayer Affirms Support of Glyphosate, Optimistic for a Future with Over the Top Dicamba Labels

David Hula Shares Risk Management Strategy to Address Corn Pollination Challenges

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 19:15:54 GMT

As corn growers are evaluating pollination, more reports of problems resulting from the “overly tight tassel wrap” phenomenon are trickling in from farmers and agronomists, with pictures and commentary now posted to social media and various websites.

Reigning world corn yield record holder David Hula says he is seeing the issue in some Virginia fields and also hearing reports on the problem from fellow corn growers in states along the Eastern Seaboard.

“Some farmers have been walking fields thinking they’re getting plenty of rain and are going to knock it out of the yield park with this crop, but we’ve got pollination problems,” reports Hula, who’s based near Charles City, Va. “I walked a bunch of fields this past weekend to make sure I still want the plane (to fly inputs) on certain fields.” he adds.

“This isn’t happening just in Virginia, I know it’s happening in the mid-Atlantic… in Delaware and Maryland and the Carolinas. I don’t know how far West this goes…” he told Randy Dowdy on their new episode of Breaking Barriers with R&D podcast.

"Tassel wrap" showing up in WC Indiana (photos taken July 10), joining the party seen across much of the Midwest. Seems linked to hybrid, planting date, and pre-symptom temp swings. Potential pollination issues also observed ~10 days after symptoms.@PurdueAgronomy @PurdueAg pic.twitter.com/qVKDr7m1Th
— Dan Quinn (@PurdueCorn) July 21, 2025

The Culmination Of A Perfect Storm?
At this point, no one has a clear handle on how extensive the pollination problem is across the Corn Belt.

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie says he is seeing the issue occur in parts of Illinois as corn reaches about V6 or V7 up through tassel – as the crop goes through rapid growth.

“This corn is growing like crazy, putting on an inch and a half of root a day, putting on a node every three days, that type of thing. The tassel can get wrapped really tight, and usually it’s triggered by some type of stress. Your hope is that that tassel gets out of the tight wrap before pollination starts, and usually it does. But this year, we have some hybrids that are really struggling to get that done. Unfortunately, the tassels are still wrapped tight, and the silks are out and they’re waiting for that pollen.”

Mark Licht, Extension cropping systems specialist at Iowa State University, reports tassels shedding pollen while still wrapped in the flag leaf is an uncommon occurrence in Iowa and across the Corn Belt and that he has only seen it once in the past 20 or so years.

In an online article , Licht says the problem does not seem to be brand-specific but does appear to be hybrid-specific.

“We believe this may be a form of rapid growth syndrome occurring at the end of the vegetative stages, likely triggered by a combination of high temperatures, ample moisture and non-limiting nutrient availability,” he writes.

BREAKING: There are concerns about pollination issues in cornfields, particularly in the Midwest. Tassels are not emerging normally, and silks are abnormally long, potentially impacting yield. The cause is unknown, but it may be genetically related and could result in reduced… pic.twitter.com/uchasksbfb
— Cornelius Seed (@PlantItProfit) July 17, 2025

Ferrie says he has seen the issue in previous years and thinks it might be influenced partly by wide swings in temperature during a 24-hour period. “You’re up in that 85- to 90-degree range during the day, and then you crash into the 50s at night. That seems to trigger this.”

Licht is trying to get an idea of how widespread the problem is in corn. Farmers in Iowa and across the country can help him gain insights on this issue by completing his wrapped tassel questionnaire .

🌽#CropWatch25 #corn has either pollinated or is doing so now. Only potential issues reported are out of western Iowa, where the top leaf and the tassel are intertwined. Pollination impacts are unclear for now. Otherwise, corn looks good, plenty of moisture for most fields. pic.twitter.com/5a4wgyGwzL
— Karen Braun (@kannbwx) July 21, 2025

Address Silk Clippers In Compromised Corn Crops
Unfortunately, there is no counter measure farmers can take to correct or improve poor pollination.

One step Ferrie encourages impacted growers to take is to look for feeding from silk clipping pests. Japanese beetle and corn rootworm beetle species are two of the key pests he is seeing in fields feeding on silks now.

“When you’re under this much pressure to get corn pollinated, if you’ve got any beetle silk clipping going on on top of this problem, you may have to go in there and do a preemptive strike,” Ferrie says. “Clean up your silk clippers if they’re there. Aphids can be part of the problem, as well.”

Ferrie offers more insights from his perspective on what is contributing to the problem in his discussion with Farm Journal’s Tyne Morgan and Clinton Griffiths in their latest podcast.

A Good Way To Minimize Risk Next Season
Hula believes in minimizing production risks with strategic use of his corn planter, and he encourages other growers to do the same. His objective: plant hybrids with similar Comparative Relative Maturities (CRMs) – also sometimes referred to as Relative Maturity or RM – but with different flowering dates.

This is information he can usually access via seed company product catalogs or a company representative.

“Between companies, some of their CRM models or numbers are a little different, so you have to take that into account,” Hula says.

Assessing Growing Degree Units (GDUs) in the flowering process also plays a role in Hula’s hybrid selection methods.

“If I’m using the same genetic package from the same company, we’ll look for a six-day range of pollination,” he notes. “And if I’m changing companies, then we just try to find when they’re silking and come up with their best strategy. I want similar CRMs, but I’ll go with as much as two CRM differences.”

Hula usually splits his 16-row planter with two hybrids – eight rows of one hybrid and eight rows of a second hybrid – to go across the field. This year, he used three hybrids at a time in the planter.

“That helps spread out the risk, as we find some maturities are having pollination problems and others aren’t,” Hula says.
Ferrie explains that if the grower uses at least two different hybrids in the planter and the hybrids sync up at silking, growers are able to mitigate risk, “because the one hybrid pollinated the other one for you,” he says.

Hula goes into more detail on how he uses hybrid selection to mitigate production risks in Breaking Barriers With R&D. Watch it on YouTube: Breaking Barriers with R&D: Split the Planter, Split the Risk

Why U.S. Agriculture Needs More AI Investment to Stay Ahead in Global Crop Innovation Race

Tue, 20 May 2025 18:15:48 GMT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key tool in accelerating the discovery, development and manufacturing of new crop protection molecules to fight yield-robbing weeds, pests, and diseases in U.S. farm fields.

The technology helps researchers shorten the discovery window and find new and novel active-ingredient molecules that are much more difficult and expensive to uncover using traditional research methods.

That was among the talking points that emerged from Tuesday’s congressional hearing on AI in farming, held in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space, and Technology Committee in Washington, D.C.

Related: The New Space Race: Why America Must Focus On AI

At the hearing, key agricultural stakeholders advocated for increasing government investment in AI technology and infrastructure. The group warned Congress that America’s status as a world leader in AI has been usurped by Japan and China, while other rival countries are also gunning for top positions.

Testifying on behalf of U.S. agriculture was Corteva Vice President of Agricultural Solutions Brian Lutz, University of Florida associate professor Chris Swale and University of Illinois assistant professor Boris Camiletti.

“AI is without a doubt one of the most profound technologies ever to be invented,” Lutz said. “We believe there is tremendous opportunity for our government to support and incentivize advanced innovation — including by leveraging the benefits of AI — to benefit American farmers. If we want to win, we need to move smarter and faster than our competition. Corteva believes with the support of our government, we will do exactly that.”

Lutz said researchers at Corteva recently used AI to model how 10,000 different molecules might be used in crop protection, all within a matter of weeks. The Corteva model was able to identify dozens of new potential crop protection molecules that its overworked chemists could not have found otherwise. He said the company is currently testing a handful of these molecules and AI will also play a role in moving the testing phase along more quickly than traditional lab-based methods.

Lutz also told Congress how Corteva scientists have deployed AI technology in its fermentation processes, which the company uses to create what he called “molecules of interest” for evaluation. Over the past few years, Corteva has used AI modeling to engineer various bacterial strains that drive fermentation reactions and optimize reaction conditions, allowing the company to run a manufacturing operation that is as efficient as possible. This application of AI helps Corteva maintain a strong U.S. manufacturing base in the Midwest, Lutz said.

“This is the new face of ag innovation,” he added. “We can accelerate discovery of new classes of crop protection products, like biologicals — nature-based solutions that help farmers grow more food by working alongside traditional crop protection products. With AI, we can begin to predict the incredible diversity of biomolecules and metabolites that are produced by microbes and other organisms, with the goal of unlocking the secrets within plant biology to develop the next generation of safe, highly targeted, nature-inspired products.”

Swale testified to AI’s role in helping researchers on his team find and develop biological-based treatments to combat Asian citrus psyllid, an invasive pest that has left the Florida citrus industry — valued at almost $10 billion just five years ago — teetering on the brink of collapse. Effective synthetic chemicals to manage the Asian citrus psyllid exist, but the regulatory hurdles to get those products onto the market are too high, he said

“We have turned to using AI to help discover chemicals of the natural world because the registration requirements are significantly lower when compared to synthetic insecticides,” Swale said.

Camiletti leads a team of researchers combining plant pathology, remote sensing and AI to help U.S. soybean farmers overcome red crown rot, a soil-borne disease first detected in Illinois soybean fields in 2018.

Illinois has been hit the hardest by the yield-robbing disease, Camiletti said, and the pathogen is spreading rapidly to Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri. The disease is difficult to detect visually, he added, and once symptoms appear it’s often too late for successful remediation.

“My team uses satellite imagery and machine learning to identify red crown rot hot spots, and we train the models with high resolution multi-spectral data to near-infrared bands and use ground observations to teach the algorithm what diseased plants look like,” Camiletti said. “This technology has real on-farm impact. We are building tools that generate prescription maps so instead of applying fungicides across entire fields farmers can target only the affected areas.”

After key witness testimony concluded, the committee opened the floor to questions from members of Congress. Watch the full hearing via the video embedded below:

Your Next Read: Decode MAHA’s Potential Effect on the Agriculture Sector

Ferrie: Evaluate Corn Stands And Replant Decisions This Week

Mon, 05 May 2025 17:26:10 GMT

Rain showers have slowed or stopped planters from advancing in fields across parts of the Midwest, including Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. The situation continues a wetter-than-normal pattern that has been in place for the last several weeks, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor .

One farmer who was chased out of fields by rain this past weekend told Farm Journal, “This is the wettest drought I have ever seen.”

In central Illinois, Ken Ferrie says farmers there are also dealing with rain and rain delays but that there is a silver lining to be had.

“There is a lot of upside potential from the moisture – getting our soil-applied herbicides working for us, and helping some of those soybean stands that are struggling to emerge in timber soils,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

“This keeps our national corn crop from being in the exact same stage of growth all at once, meaning this entire crop isn’t going to try and pollinate in the same week – which could happen to be 110 degrees at the time. We just won’t know until we get there.”

Sure, there are valid concerns farmers have about getting crops planted, but looking ahead to identify benefits on the back side of the production season can provide some encouragement.

“Breaking up this planting window helps us all the way to the harvest, when we start knocking these fields out with the combine. We don’t want our corn and soybeans being too dry at harvest, which causes its own set of issues,” he says.

With that said, Ferrie offers four suggestions to consider for the week ahead:

Keep your powder dry if the weather outlook and soil conditions are crummy. If you jump the gun and muddy corn into wet, cold soils this week that could cost you big. Ferrie says you could easily lose 30 bushels per acre in that scenario.

“In that event, you could have waited until May 20 to plant and ended up with the same corn yield at harvest and a lot less replant to deal with now,” he explains. “Of course, there would be some drying costs to consider in that picture as well.”

Assess corn stands for replant decisions. If your situation is the corn got planted but then rains moved in, this is the time to swing back to those fields and evaluate emergence. Those fields that show signs of trouble need to be tended to sooner than later.

“We’re still early in the planting window, and replant decisions can be made without giving up any yield at this point,” Ferrie says. “With corn, you’re not only looking for emergence numbers, you’re looking at uniformity of emergence as well.”

Expect any plant that’s more than one collar behind its neighbor to be a small or no-eared plant. Furthermore, Ferrie’s experience is if corn was mudded into the field, you’ll likely have about two-thirds of a normal stand – rather than little or no stand.

Another issue to keep in mind are any seed corn lots you planted that had low test scores. Even if you planted those lots in good conditions, they still might not perform well.

Ferrie recommends verifying that ear counts are high enough to hit the yield goals that you’re after. Use those insights to guide the use of inputs and/or whether you need to replant the crop.

“Remember, we don’t thicken corn stands up, especially this early. We take them out and we start over,” he says. “However, if you are planting at 36,000 (population) hoping for a 35,000 ear count but end up with 26,000 due to your planting conditions, it might not pay to replant in $4 corn,” he adds.

Factors to consider if you’re planting soybeans. Ferrie says to put your early soybean maturities into the ground this week.

“Because it’s May 5, plant your earlier maturity beans first as we’re now in the ‘normal’ planting window,” he advises, “Then, finish with your full-season soybeans.”

This direction is just the oppositive of what he recommends when Illinois farmers want to plant early soybeans. If it was still early planting season, Ferrie would be saying to plant full-season soybeans first (based on your maturity zone) and then finish with your shorter-season soybeans.

If you feel you have to plant soybeans in tough soil conditions and get a less than ideal stand, don’t give up on the crop — soybeans have a remarkable ability to compensate.

“Because soybeans set their yield later in their development, a tough start for beans doesn’t carry the yield penalty that it does for corn,” Ferrie points out.

An important side note: Make sure your planter is set to do a good job of singulating for soybeans. That will help you get a more uniform pod load, which is important to yield outcome.

Anticipate pests showing up in fields now or headed your way. Ferrie says black cutworm (BCW) is moving into Illinois and other states, and farmers need to be on the lookout for feeding. Any field that had a green cover the last part of March to early April will carry the biggest risk.

“All cover crop fields will need to be watched, including the fields where chickweed and henbit were used as covers,” he says.

Ferrie cautions farmers that if they worked a cover crop in at the end of April, that does not take away the threat of cutworms. The eggs have already been laid.

“Guys, cutworm is easy to kill, so let’s not drop the ball on this one. Scouting from the road is not recommended. When you notice a stand disappearing from the road, you’re usually behind the eight ball already. And scouting cover crop fields from the highway is impossible.”

Ferrie adds that there has been a noticeable presence of true armyworm moth in traps. “That means we’ll have to keep an eye on this insect as heat units continue to climb. Cover crop fields, fields next to the cover crops and our wheat crop will need to be watched,” he says.

Join us this summer at the Farm Journal Corn & Soybean College . The two-day event, scheduled for July 22-23, is now open to you for registration. Ferrie and team host the annual agronomic program at their Crop-Tech Consulting facility based just south of Bloomington, Ill.

This is an unsponsored event making more time for our agronomists to spend with attendees, getting their questions answered, and more time to spend in the field. We hope to see you there!

Catch Ken Ferrie’s latest agronomic insights and recommendations in this week’s Boots In the Field Podcast :

Your Next Read: Sap Tests Can Help Reduce Nutrient Use, Improve Crop Health and Boost Yields

Unlock Profits: 5 Essential Questions for Early Soybean Planting

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:43:58 GMT

In the rush to get early soybeans planted, here are five questions to ask yourself prior to putting seed in the ground:

1. Are you using seed treatments to protect the crop?
Early-planted soybeans often stay in the ground up to 25 days, which makes them more vulnerable to disease and insect pressure. Seed treatments can mitigate a lot of risk.

“Today we have fungicides and insecticides to protect those beans at planting, which we didn’t have 10 years ago,” says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist, based in central Illinois.

Pest pressure is typically higher early in the growing season as soil and air temperatures warm, triggering life cycles for not only freshly planted soybean seeds, but also pathogens, insects, and nematodes that feed on newly germinated seedlings, adds Jacquie Holland, an economist with the American Soybean Association (ASA).

Holland reports that a 2024 ASA/United Soybean Board survey done with 491 growers indicates 90% of U.S. soybean acres are planted with treated seeds. Only 3% of respondents had never planted any treated soybean seeds.

Fungicides and insecticides are the most widely used seed treatments with 72% and 66%, respectively, of farmers surveyed by ASA indicating these products are applied before planting.

2. Are you a one planter operation?
That will determine whether you have the capacity or equipment to plant soybeans and corn at the same time, if soil and weather conditions permit planting both.

You want to be able to plant corn when conditions are right. Never delay corn planting.

“Once conditions are ideal, you must plant corn,” Ferrie says. “If you miss the sweet spot, you could lose a ½ bu. to 1 bu. of corn per acre for each day’s delay.”

There are various solutions to potential planting bottlenecks. For instance, you can plant soybeans, switch to corn when conditions are right and then finish soybeans whenever you can.

“That mitigates risk by spreading out soybean maturity,” Ferrie says.

Learn more about how to address labor and equipment needs at Eight Steps to Early Soybean Planting

3. Have you considered soybean variety planting order?
Ferrie recommends going with your fullest season beans first and saving shorter season beans for planting later. It sounds counterintuitive, but there are good reasons for that advice.

“Based on our observations, we must plant full-season soybeans early enough to reach at least the three-trifoliate stage before the pre-solstice nights get too short,” Ferrie says. “There’s more time to get your short-season varieties planted early because they need fewer hours of darkness to trigger flowering.”

If early planted soybeans don’t get big enough to start flowering before the solstice, they will produce tall plants and that’s not necessarily a positive.

“The plants will continue to grow, adding vegetative stages until they reach R5 because flowering will be delayed until the nights get long enough after the solstice to trigger the reproductive stage. Tall plants don’t correlate with a yield increase. In two decades of studies, we have seen shoulder-high soybean plants lodge more often and yield less than waist-high plants,” Ferrie says.

4. Is your weed-control program in order?
“With early planting, the time frame for applying burndown, preplant and pre-emergence soybean herbicides is likely to coincide with corn planting,” says Ferrie.

“If your custom applicator is applying preplant and pre-emergence herbicides on corn, he might not want to stop, clean out a sprayer and apply soybean herbicides. I’ve seen soybean planting delayed three weeks while growers waited for a burndown herbicide application,” he adds.

Along with that, you also might need to consider a different option, such as using a pre-emergence soil-applied herbicide with residual control, Ferrie says, as a for instance.

“Follow that with a post-emergence application, applied a little earlier than you are used to. You might need to include a residual herbicide in the post-emergence treatment.”

5. Are you prepared to give soybeans a helping hand?
As soybeans try to emerge they may need some help if the surface crust is hard, meaning you might need to run a rotary hoe. If your hoe has been sitting in a shed forever, now’s the time to get it ready.

“We always say ‘hoe before you know,’” Ferrie says. “When you know you’re already in trouble with the crust, that’s when it’s usually getting too late to get the full benefit out of a rotary hoe. With these prices, you need to play every card you’ve got to add yield,” he says.

The same “hoe before you know” principle applies equally well to corn crops. You can learn more about the process from Ferrie’s video on YouTube Hoe Before You Know

Ferrie: Farmers Are Asking How To Fix Poor Corn Stands

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 21:09:07 GMT

With winter yield map meetings underway, Ken Ferrie says one question keeps coming up from corn growers as he talks with them. The question is, “In certain soil types, we are seeing a consistently poor corn stand due to missing plants. How do we figure out what caused the poor stand and fix it for this season?”

One challenge in answering this question is that the evidence needed to identify the problem cannot be provided by the yield map, says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

“The yield map can tell us where the problem is and maybe how much that problem is costing us, but that’s about it,” he says. “With the field harvested and in many cases, tilled, all the evidence is gone, kind of like a contaminated crime scene.”

If the field in question is in no-till, however, a visit back to the site yet this winter may still help provide clues or answers.

“Do actual stand counts with the stubble, and look for uniformity. Uniform plants would indicate there was uniform emergence,” Ferrie says. “If you find poor stands and ununiform stalks, that may represent more than just an emergence problem. Dig some plants and look closely at the seed furrow. If you’re dealing with sidewall smearing, it will still be present and visible even after harvest.”

The Bigger Challenge
Ferrie says when he gets questions like the poor corn stand one from his customers, it’s usually a sign they don’t have a pest team in place to address agronomic issues.

He describes a pest team as being responsible for all agronomic threats against the farm – from bugs and weeds to disease.

“The pest team needs a pest boss, one person who has a handle on all things pest related, who makes the call on pesticide applications, which fields get insecticide, fungicide and so forth. The pest boss doesn’t have to do all the scouting, but he does need to make sure it gets done,” Ferrie says.

“Designate some of your farm labor for this job, and give them the time and the authority to do it,” he adds. “If that’s not possible, work with your suppliers. Many will help in this area for their loyal customers. Or, hire a scouting service.”

One of the important jobs of the pest team is to do stand counts and compare them to planting rates. This practice needs to be implemented right after corn emergence, Ferrie says.

“You want to look at each hybrid and field and a good selection of soil types within the field. This data should be recorded and kept for any diagnostic process. After emergence, we can tell what the cause of a missing plant is – whether it was a planter issue, planting conditions, insects, disease or varmints,” he says. “Once we know the problem, we can put a plan together to fix it.”

Assign Solutions To Problems
“If it’s a seedbed-related issue, maybe drainage is part of the cure,” Ferrie says. “If it’s insects or disease you’re dealing with, picking a seed treatment that can influence them would be a good start.”

Seed treatments are being used this spring by one of his customers to address a pest problem the farmer identified last year.

Ferrie recalls what transpired. “Going through yield maps on one field, we had two hybrids split in the planter. One hybrid was dropping off in yield in certain zones in the field. When I asked about it, the farmer knew exactly why. He had seen it in the stand counts and investigated the problem. The stand loss was due to wireworm.”

Upon review, the hybrid in trouble didn’t have a high enough insecticide rate on the seed to prevent wireworm from causing damage, while the other hybrid did.

“This small detail had slipped through the cracks with the one hybrid, but at least the farmer knew the cause and how to fix it,” Ferrie says.

He offers one additional recommendation for growers’ consideration: Before the 2025 harvest rolls around, he advises training the farm’s combine operators to be on the lookout for agronomic issues as they go through fields.

“You want them to stop when they see poor stands, and collect data while the crop is still there. That will improve the odds of identifying the problem. Taking actual stand and ear counts, and taking pictures can all help in answering the problem,” Ferrie adds.

Your next read: Red, White Or Blue? How Does Your County Fare With Soybean Cyst Nematode?

Listen to Ferrie’s complete Boots In The Field podcast here:

Robot Bees? Check Out This New Pollination Innovation

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:09:13 GMT

Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed advanced robotic insects that could aid farming through artificial pollination. They could prove especially useful in the controlled indoor environments of high-tech ‘vertical farms’.

“These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case,” co-lead author Suhan Kim, from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), told Reuters.

“For instance, we can think of artificial pollination. So since our robot looks like an insect, and it’s real lightweight and small, if you can really precisely control the robot we might be able to do something on top of flowers or leaves, which really requires very delicate interactions.”

The robots, each lighter than a paperclip, can hover for approximately 1,000 seconds, over 100 times longer than previous models. They are also capable of performing high-speed acrobatic maneuvers, including double aerial flips.

The new design halves the size of the team’s earlier model, with increased stability while also freeing up space for electronics.

“We want the robot to be able to have a [circuit] board, battery and the sensors on board. So to do that, we need much higher payload than now. So what we’re currently pushing very hard right now is to optimize the robot design to be able to lift more and more so that we can afford these potential payloads,” said Kim.

Long term, the team hope this will enable autonomous flight outside the lab. This technology could significantly boost crop yields in multi-level warehouses by providing a more efficient method for artificial pollination.

Vertical farming, the name given to the production of crops in a series of stacked levels, often in a controlled environment, is a fast-growing industry with billions of dollars being pumped into projects across the globe.

It is seen as part of the solution to the food security challenge posed by population expansion at a time when climate change and geopolitics threaten supply.

“This doesn’t really mean that we want to entirely replace honeybees in nature, but what we sometimes hear from the people in the relevant field is that there are really good cases where we can’t rely on honeybees anymore, such as like indoor farming, where we can’t really have honeybee homes in it because of safety issues or some environmental issues. So in that case, we can start thinking of using our robot, if it works well, for tools like indoor farming,” added Kim.

Despite the team’s improvements, the robotic insects still cannot match the capabilities of natural pollinators. However, the researchers aim to improve the robots’ flight time and precision to enable them to land and take off from the center of a flower.

The research was published in the journal Science Robotics.

Red, White Or Blue? How Does Your County Fare With Soybean Cyst Nematode?

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 23:03:25 GMT

Red, white and blue are the colors of patriotism in the U.S., but a new map showing the presence of soybean cyst nematode (SCN) uses those colors in an altogether different way.

Soybean growers can take a quick look at the map, provided by the SCN Coalition, to tell whether they are in an area potentially at risk. Specifically:

Red shows the counties in each state where SCN has been found.

Blue signals the newest counties or areas the pest has moved into.

White indicates counties or areas where SCN has not been confirmed – but they aren’t necessarily SCN-free.

The map shows the known distribution of SCN in the United States and Canada. Those counties and rural municipalities first reported as infested between 2020 and 2023 are shown in blue; those known as infested before 2020 are indicated in red.

(C.C. Marett and G.L. Tylka, Iowa State University)

Some states have SCN in every county. Consider the top two soybean producing states:

Illinois has SCN in all 102 of its counties and 88% of all soybean fields.
Iowa also has SCN in all 99 of its counties and at least 70% of all soybean fields.

“I tell my farmers there’s a three out of four chance any field they grow soybeans in has SCN,” says Greg Tylka, director of the Iowa Soybean Research Center at Iowa State University.

He says fields with low levels of infestation might show very few symptoms of damage, but it becomes more pronounced as populations climb.

“There’s stunting and there’s yellowing, but it won’t be uniform in the field. It’ll be patchy,” he says. “Some indirect symptoms include areas of a field with poor weed control. The soybeans might not look sick, but because of poor weed control they are stunted and the plants don’t close over as quickly.”

How Prevalent Is SCN?

In 2021, Pioneer tested 439 soybean fields in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin to determine SCN pressure. The company reports SCN infestations were found throughout the study area, with over 80% of fields sampled having some level of SCN infestation.

Furthermore, 27% of fields sampled had SCN population levels capable of causing heavy to severe crop damage.

Tylka says many farmers don’t even realize they have SCN, which can make it a silent yield robber.

“We can have up to 30% yield loss without any loss of color of the plants, height of the plants or weight of the leaves. When you get into severe situations where you can see even mild stunting, or mild yellowing, it goes up from there. Simple math shows with a 30% loss on 70 bu. beans that’s 21 bu. With $10 soybeans that’s $210 per acre,” he explains.

Spring Soil Test To ID The Pest

Farmers need to soil sample and have a diagnostic laboratory test specifically for SCN and determine the population level present in the soil – a practice that can still be done this spring and even during the growing season.

According to the SCN Coalition, some state soybean boards offer free SCN testing. This changes from year to year, but in the past such states offering free SCN testing have included Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Once detected, farmers can use an integrated management plan, which includes varietal selection, crop rotation and a seed treatment.

“Farmers should rotate to corn because corn is a non-host crop,” Tylka adds. “Any year a farmer grows corn in a field, SCN egg numbers will drop; some of the eggs are going to hatch out and the little worms are going to starve. That drop can be as little as 5% or 10% to up to 50%, so corn is our best tool to lower numbers.”

Tylka says an excellent resource for farmers is the Soybean Cyst Nematode Management Guide originally published by the SCN Coalition and recently updated and reissued by the North Central Soybean Research Program. The fifth edition is available to read or print in pdf format.

Interviews by national reporter Michelle Rook contributed to this article.

Your Next Read: Five Tips For Reviewing SCN Soil Test Results

Ferrie: ‘Heavy Aphids Need Sprayed in Corn’

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 14:58:29 GMT

While a lot of corn has been harvested across the country, more than 50% percent of the crop was still in fields going into this week, according to USDA.

With that in mind, Ken Ferrie is encouraging farmers to evaluate their corn crop for key learnings before harvesting it. The agronomic insights you can gain from doing some final ground truthing now can help you plan for 2025, says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist and owner of Crop-Tech Consulting, Heyworth, Ill.

Seeing Is Believing

For some you-are-there perspective, Ferrie just posted a video to YouTube that takes you through one of his customer’s fields that has very uneven, poor uniformity.

Part of the issue is that the central Illinois crop received little rain the past couple of months.

“This is in an area that is 9.5 inches behind in rainfall since July 1, so they’re battling a dry finish which is affecting kernel size and depth,” reports Ferrie.

But that’s not the only thing that struck down this crop, which started strong last spring with a 34,000-plant per acre stand in the field and then dropped to a 27,000-plants per acre range.

Ferrie walks the field showing the corn ears to give you a firsthand look at what caused the crop to end up with more than 4,000 barren plants per acre.

Pests, Disease, No Rainfall

Two of the agronomic issues this crop encountered, along with a lack of moisture, were tar spot and heavy aphid pressure. The latter was particularly bad this year, stripping yield potential – even though the grower sprayed the pests.

“We probably just didn’t spray quick enough,” Ferrie says. “We let too many plants get waxed up, and then we had additional pressure on with the tar spot in dry weather.

“I know a lot of people say, ‘Don’t worry about aphids. You can get your crop pollinated at a 50% aphid infestation,’ but it can be a catastrophe if aphids take out those upper leaves and abort that ear on you,” Ferrie adds. “So we’re going to be a little more proactive in spraying for aphids in the future. While this field got sprayed, it probably should have been sprayed a couple weeks earlier.”

In this 5-minute video, Ferrie talks through what happened to the corn crop early in the season and then in late summer. The mini tutorial can help you sidestep some agronomic potholes next season that will steal yield.

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Ferrie: Is Your Corn Crop Running Out of Nitrogen? Why That Matters Now

Tue, 03 Sep 2024 21:12:14 GMT

This week in the Boots In The Field podcast, Ken Ferrie addresses a variety of agronomic issues impacting late-season corn and soybeans across parts of the Midwest.

Here are three of his key takeaways:

1. Nitrogen deficiency is showing up in corn fields, and is extreme in some areas. In many cases, the N deficiencies are enough that Ferrie is able to see them from the road, as plants have yellowed all the way up to the tassels. He recommends checking fields to consider what an insufficient amount of N at this point in the season will mean to yield results.

“Plants running out of N at R4 run the risk of tip abortion,” he notes, as a for instance. “At R5, tip kernels are going to get light, and if it’s a D hybrid, it’s going to cost you in late fill.”

Reflecting on the two nitrogen-friendly years of 2022 and 2023, Ferrie notes that 2024 nitrate samples indicated farmers had lost some nitrogen and needed to replace it.

On top of that, many growers also bumped up yield goals this season, which given yield projections for this fall, that looks like it was a good decision.

“We can see now that bumping those N rates was the right thing to do,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist. “The more N you had on last fall or early this spring (some of which was lost), the more we had to bump those rates.”

In some cases where farmers bumped up their N applications, they could have been pushed even higher.

“Going through R5, we could see some of these big ears wanting to tip early due to the weight of the ear and long ear shanks. The heat this week will make this even more visible,” he says.

If temperatures drop and some rain comes through for farmers, many of those affected ears will straighten back up. But if the ears tip over due to weight before black layer occurs, that will affect kernel fill and final yield results.

“Many fields have top kill in the corn plants, and it is more evident with stress,” Ferrie says. “The later it shows up, the less damage it’ll do to yield. But if we lose those top three leaves too early, it’ll lighten up the kernels on the top one-third of the ear.

“If you’re running out of nitrogen, you will become a victim of top kill,” he contends. “If you’re deep into R5, the effect will be a lot lighter on you.”

2. More variation is showing up in soybeans: Across parts of Illinois, Ferrie says he is seeing more sudden death syndrome (SDS) along with dry weather stress. The combination is impacting soybeans now in the reproductive stages and is speeding up their maturity.

“We’re seeing the early-planted beans in the drier areas showing some stress and starting to actually change color,” says Ferrie, adding that some of the stress is compaction related and some is a pH issue.

“In some of the higher pH pockets, how far along the soybeans are will play a big role in how much the stress affects the yield,” he says.

3. Pest problems and some disease issues need immediate attention:

Stink bugs: Ferrie says to be on the outlook for stink bug populations. He says to be vigilant in checking soybean seed acres.

Impacted seeds may be smaller, shriveled, and/or discolored, he notes. Damaged seeds may also produce stunted seedlings.

Tar spot: More corn growers are seeing tar spot popping up in their crop.

“Most corn I’ve been in looks like it’s going to make it the black layer, but the plants may be trashed by that time,” Ferrie says.

“Other areas seem to be somewhat clean of tar spot. I do expect that to continue to change as we’re finding tar spot in the upper portions of the plant, indicating that it’s on the move,” he adds.

Southern rust: The disease is becoming more of a problem in the Midwest this year. Temperatures that reach 80°F-plus during the day in combination with warm nights and high humidity will kick up the amount growers will see in affected crops.

Efficacy ratings for corn fungicide management of southern rust have been compiled by a working group of corn researchers and can be found here: Fungicide Efficacy for Control of Corn Foliar Diseases

You can listen to the Boots In The Field podcast for this week here: Episode 341: Boots In The Field Report

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