For the fifth consecutive year, I joined my colleague Patrick Hatting, Farm Management Specialist for central Iowa, and checked several Polk County corn fields as a part of our “Polk County Yield Tour.” After R3 (milk stage) is a great time to venture into corn fields to make yield estimates as kernel abortion is less likely and plant stress will result in reduce kernel size or fill rather than kernel loss.

A practical guide for ag professionals, surveyors, and GPS users in the field.

Big changes are coming in 2026 to the geodetic reference systems “datums” behind GPS and if you're using GPS for precision ag, surveying, or construction, these changes may affect your A-B lines, boundaries, and other mapped data.

The National Geodetic Survey (NGS) will officially replace two outdated reference frames:

Objective: Evaluate the yield potential of winter wheat varieties in northern Iowa.

Key Takeaways: