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The second annual Soil Health Conference will be held in Ames, Iowa at the Scheman Building at Iowa State University on February 16-17, 2017.

“History is largely a record of human struggle to wrest the land from nature, because man relies for sustenance on the products of the soil. So direct, is the relationship between soil erosion, the productivity of the land, and the prosperity of people, that the history of mankind, to a considerable degree at least, may be interpreted in terms of the soil and what has happened to it as the result of human use.” - Hugh H. Bennett and W.C. Lowdermilk, circa 1930’s

Making sound soil fertility management decisions is an important part of successful crop production, on both an economic and environmental level. Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will be offering a two-day short course focusing on principles of soils, soil fertility and nutrient management to help crop production professionals make better decisions.

If you grow soybean your help is needed. We are asking for yields and management information that is used for your soybean fields. The goal behind this project identify key factors that prohibit soybean farmers from obtaining yields that are potentially attainable on their respective farms. Or put another way, what are management practices, field characteristics, or climate factors associated low and high yielding fields.

I recently had a discussion with a farmer regarding the Palmer problem, and he asked if I were 'King for a Day' how would I change Iowa's noxious weed law.  I came up with four suggestions regarding classifying weeds as noxious:

1)  Eliminate any weed from the list that is widely established in the state;
2)  Change the focus from weeds of ag fields to invasive plants that threaten natural areas;

Soil Temperature at the 4-inch depth is important to crop establishment even though seed placement is usually at depths of less than 2 inches.  Soil temperature of below 50F is important to responsible fall anhydrous application.  The estimated county soil temperature in Iowa is derived from observations at 16 locations extrapolated to the 99 Iowa counties.  The estimated county temperatures may be obtained at: http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/agclimate/soilt.php   va

People involved in weed management for at least 20 years probably remember corn being damaged by glyphosate drift when Roundup Ready soybean were first introduced.  The extensive damage was due to the high susceptibility of corn to glyphosate; equipping sprayers with low-drift nozzles and the adoption of Roundup Ready corn hybrids has minimized problems associated with glyphosate drift.

The recent approval of the new dicamba products approved for use on Xtend soybean has been received with mix feelings by the agricultural community; many are excited about the new options to help with the growing herbicide resistance problem, whereas others are concerned about the risks associated with off-target movement of these products.  Two dicamba products (Engenia and Xtendimax with VaporGrip Technology) are now approved by EPA, and the Xtend trait has been approved by import

I’ll admit it, I enjoy the laughing weeds in Syngenta’s Acuron advertisements.

This week during ICM Conference, I talked about a resistance management plan for soybean aphid. My presentation abstract can be downloaded now (ICM Proceedings, pg. 97). In order to prolong the efficacy of foliar insecticides, farmers need to implement more scouting, spray based on the economic threshold, check fields post spray, and rotate insecticide groups.

The effect of cover crop on crop yields, soil health, and nitrate-nitrogen (N) leaching is complex and variable from year to year. From an environmental point of view, the higher the rye biomass production at termination day, the higher the likelihood of increasing soil organic carbon and decreasing N leaching. However, common asked questions are whether the magnitude of rye biomass is proportionally related to yield benefits or losses and how much water and N does rye use?

Building on the success of the Inaugural Soil Health Conference in 2016, the second Soil Health Conference will be held in the Scheman Building at Iowa State University on February 16-17, 2017. This conference is organized by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Department of Agronomy.

In my previous post, I discussed six key factors to keep in mind when considering hybrid choices for 2017, including: cost, disease tolerance, insect package traits, early emergence in corn, and human error. Now, I’d like to discuss hybrid selection from a standability, stalk quality, and grain dry-down aspect to round out the list.

Many people have been asking me about little black bugs biting them this summer. Have you experienced this? I would have to guess they would be minute pirate bugs, also known as insidious flower bugs.

Harvest is underway! Long days and short nights in the combine, tractor and truck give farmers time to reflect. Key things to remember from 2016 are the wet spring, dry June, wet and late summer, and early fall. With commodity prices lower than past years farmers need to begin developing budgets for 2017.

Right now, I have five different insects walking around my office! Of course, they are accidental invaders along with many other nuisance pests active right now. It’s also a sign of the quality of the building I work in [sigh]. I’ve been asked several times, “how cold does it have to get to kill insects?” Perhaps it is important to understand why cold temperatures kill insects. Insects are unlike mammals and birds because they must generate their own heat (called ectotherms).

Sept. 18-24 is National Farm Safety and Health Week and Iowa Farm Safety and Health Week. Clarke McGrath, on-farm research and extension coordinator for the Iowa Soybean Research Center and extension agronomist at Iowa State University, provides farm safety tips during harvest, based on his experience as a firefighter, EMT, and involvement in the agriculture industry.

Safety is always a priority for farmers at harvest, but this year may push us harder than most. If our current wet weather pattern continues into the fall, it could be a muddy, difficult 2016 harvest season.

Sept. 18-24 is National Farm Safety and Health Week and Iowa Farm Safety and Health Week. Clarke McGrath, on-farm research and extension coordinator for the Iowa Soybean Research Center and extension agronomist at Iowa State University, provides farm safety tips during harvest, based on his experience as a firefighter, EMT, and involvement in the agriculture industry.

I tell students in my ID class that weed identification is easy since very few species have traits that allow them to persist in disturbed habitats, thus you run into the same weeds over and over. After a few years in the business, you seldom encounter a weed you haven’t dealt with before. That premise was blown out of the water when I was involved in identifying a weed whose only known occurrence in the western hemisphere was New York City. Acalypha australis