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The 2020 derecho left large amounts of downed corn as it swept across Iowa. Farmers faced the challenge of determining the best way to deal with this corn, which in some cases is being left in the field. Most of these fields will be planted to soybean in 2021, which brings up an interesting question – how will all the corn residue, including corn kernels, affect soybean diseases next season?

Farmers should always be mindful of the respiratory hazards and associated health concerns with exposure to dusts and molds during grain harvest and handling. This becomes especially important in a year like 2020 with the derecho windstorm, drought stress, and harvesting overly dry grain creating a higher potential for damaged and broken grain that could have more fines, dust and mold. 

Unusually warm weather in Iowa the second week of October led to rapid in-field drying of crops. Many farmers now find corn at 11 to 14 percent moisture content in the field. Excessively dry corn is more brittle and susceptible to mechanical damage during harvest. Dr. Charles Hurburgh notes that corn breakage potential increases by a factor of 2 for every 2 points of moisture below 16%.

The early harvest this year has created opportunities to complete fall field work and manure applications much earlier than usual. However, applying manure before soils have cooled to below 50°F can be a costly decision. Pushing manure application to later in the fall or waiting until spring can help to prevent nitrogen loss and better match nutrient availability with nutrient demand by crops.

Grain damage from the August 10 derecho storm and drought is widespread in the state and highly variable. The following is a list of five tips or good practices that farmers should consider this fall for good grain management, especially when working with suboptimal quality grain. At the end of the article, you'll find a video that addresses these five tips as well!

Know your grain quality.

Recent warm weather was great for drying crops in the field, but resulted in warm grain going into farm storage. Cool that stored grain as soon as possible to extend storage life. Forecast temperatures for the next several days are favorable for cooling stored grain to around 45 degrees. 

While the weather is working in our favor this year for grain harvest, the crop is drying down quickly and mold and dust are prolific. Dust and mold cause significant respiratory issues that range in symptoms from minor discomfort to more serious illnesses. Protecting yourself from exposure to respiratory hazards should be a priority anytime but especially when working with grain dust or potential molds.

The Integrated Crop Management (ICM) conference and Crop Advantage Series programs have been mainstays of Extension agronomic programming for many years. It is regretful that because of the COVID pandemic, those programs will NOT be offered this coming December and January. We are offering a new virtual program – CropsTV – to replace the ICM conference and Crop Advantage Series programs for this winter.

A concern for corn fields damaged by this year's Derecho is how best to manage volunteer corn in 2021. Our recommendation is to rotate to soybean or some other crop if at all possible since additional control options are available in soybean (Sept 3, 2020 article). There have been questions regarding how much viable corn seed is left in these fields after abundant corn germination in September (Figure 1).

It is almost time, but not quite yet, that anhydrous ammonia (NH₃) applications could begin (remember 50^○F and continued cooling 4-inch soil temperature, and the colder the better). However, some areas of Iowa have dry soils this fall. Can anhydrous ammonia be applied to dry soil? Will it be held in dry soil?

Can anhydrous ammonia be applied to dry soils?

Prairie potholes?! What are they? Prairie potholes are low-lying, poorly drained soils that are prone to flooding. The prairie pothole region spans north central Iowa as well as Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, and parts of Canada. ISU Biomass is exploring how perennial crops (miscanthus) compare to annual crops (corn and soybeans) when planted in prairie potholes.

Farmers in Iowa are faced with some new challenges this harvest season after the derecho swept through the state in early August. In this video, Ben Covington and Dr. Matt Darr with ISU Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering share their tips for harvesting downed corn this fall, including ways to stay safe as you harvest a difficult crop. 

Links:

Iowa Concern Hotline - 1-800-447-1985

County Extension Offices

Many producers in central and east-central Iowa are facing severely damaged corn fields from the recent August 10^th derecho. With poor quality grain not suitable for the general grain market or storage, and fields that are not mechanically harvestable, a producer might consider salvaging some value through livestock feed and forage options.

Many producers in central and east-central Iowa are facing severely damaged corn fields from the recent August 10^th derecho. With poor quality grain not suitable for the general grain market or storage, and fields that are not mechanically harvestable, a producer might consider salvaging some value through livestock feed and forage options.

When heading into the field for harvest, it’s important to make sure your monitors, sensors and scales are getting accurate numbers. Taking the time to calibrate your combine yield monitor is the first step in making sure you are using high quality yield data to make decisions in your operation.

August's derecho left many Iowans with unharvestable corn. For operations that left their corn in the field, decisions should be made to reduce the problem of volunteer corn next planting season. 

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The Crop Protection Network (CPN) develops tools to help farmers, ag industry, and researchers with crop protection decisions. The CPN is a partnership of university Extension specialists providing unbiased, research-based information at no cost.

Kathleen Delate, ISU, takes viewers on an organic field day visiting the ISU Neely-Kinyon Farm Organic Field Day 2020. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_PplV5EmT4&feature=youtu.be&redirect=true

The challenges of this growing season continued this month when a storm front brought more than 3 inches of rain to much of the state. While the rainfall was welcome for pastures and cover crops, it added to the challenges in corn fields, especially those suffering from drought and the derecho. The rainfall, followed by warm temperatures, will further predispose the stressed corn plants to issues like stalk rots and ear rots.

In addition to preparing the soil for planting, tillage can be an effective strategy for weed management. During a field trial, blue chalk was applied to the soil surface in areas where a tillage pass was made with a vertical tillage (VT) tool at a 3 degree, 5 degree and 9 degree gang angle setting.