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The Midwest Cover Crops Council (MCCC) will host their 2024 Annual Meeting and Conference at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis-Airport on February 13-14, 2024. The MCCC is a collaboration of researchers, extension staff, farmers, agencies, and industry with the mission of facilitating widespread adoption of cover crops across the Midwest. February 13^th is the MCCC Annual Meeting which is open to the public and will largely be State and Province reports.

Aside from visiting loved ones, my favorite thing about the holidays is the food. Particularly the big sit-down meal shared with a full table. So my question today – what would that holiday spread look like for a blade of grass in the pasture? Simply put – what can we, as grass growers, provide to satisfy our pastures in the growing season?

Preparation: Groceries & cooking for me, soil test & expert advice for my pasture

Many are considering which corn hybrids to select for the 2024 crop. This also means I start getting questions about whether or not to plant transgenic or conventional hybrids. It is a really important decision to make because selecting the right hybrid, the right genetics is, in my mind, the single most important crop management decision to make.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Field Agronomists have completed their fall survey of subsoil moisture in northwest Iowa. Subsoil moisture sampling in Iowa dates back to February 1954 when ten sites were chosen for soil moisture sampling. In 1959, the sampling increased to 22 locations, and in 1971, 61 locations were sampled. Today, 18 locations are sampled in northwest Iowa.

The rain that has occurred over the state this fall has been welcomed and sorely needed. However, rainfall totals have been variable across the state and not enough to make up the deficit from the growing season. Northwest Iowa has received the most rainfall, with totals ranging from 3-6”. Parts of east central Iowa have received some similar totals. Northeast Iowa and southern Iowa have received less, with 1-3”.

Researchers recommend that soil temperatures at the 4-inch depth are 50° F and cooling before applying fall anhydrous ammonia or manure with a high ammonium nitrogen (N) content, such as with liquid swine manure.

Looking at the current 4-inch soil temperatures across the state, we did drop below that 50° F mark this weekend.

Crop stover is used for livestock feed, bedding, and cellulosic ethanol production. When stover is removed from the field, nutrients, in addition to what is removed with grain harvest, are removed and not recycled back to the soil for future use by crops. Crop stover removal amounts are also complicated by when the stover is baled. Plant potassium (K) is highly soluble and will leach from stover during rainfall events.

An updated Corn and Soybean Field Guide is now available from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.

Harvest is rolling right along across the state. Check out what ISU Extension and Outreach field agronomists are seeing and hearing on how harvest is progressing in their respective areas of the state.

Northwest Iowa

After the last several years of dry conditions, some pastures may benefit from a renovation in 2024. Proper planning and preparation are needed to successfully improve pastures with either a late winter frost seeding or no-till renovation with interseeding next spring. Below are some good reminders on what you should be doing now to prepare for pasture renovations in 2024.

Fall is a great time to take soil samples for testing. Soil testing is the only way to determine soil nutrient levels and test results can help make critical management decisions for the next growing season. Soil testing starts with the soil sample. It is critical to take a collection of representative cores for each soil sample.

I have had several calls and emails about corn turning black – particularly the husks and leaf tissues. Walking in these fields turn a white shirt black quickly, and not surprisingly, combining this blackened corn can be very dirty. 

We are once again receiving reports of the notable “edge effect” causing dramatic yield reductions along corn field edges. Occasionally, we get reports earlier in the season as it is often visible from drone or aerial footage in the late part of the season as field edges mature more quickly that the field interior (Figure 1).

After walking several fields last week before harvest got into full force, I noted fields where stalk integrity was a concern. If you have not done so already, I would encourage walking fields before harvest to understand how your crop will stand through the harvest season. A pre-harvest walk will help to prioritize harvest of fields and will help reduce harvest loss of compromised corn.

It is much too early to fall apply anhydrous ammonia to meet your 2024 corn nitrogen (N) needs, but there are other factors to consider given our dry soils this fall. 

Harvest has already started for many across the state. With the extra flurry of activity including more equipment and slow-moving vehicles both on the farm and the road, there is also an increased chance for farm and equipment-related accidents.

Every year soybean harvest has some type of challenge. Soybean is one crop where it is difficult to get all the conditions perfect. The use of draper style headers with soybean harvests allows harvest to begin earlier and handle green stems, green pods, and variable moisture.

Below are several items to consider this harvest season:

For many parts of Iowa, 2023 is the third consecutive year of drought conditions. This has made establishing cover crops challenging. Drought conditions make overseeding cover crops into standing corn and soybean less successful because of a lack of rainfall to get seeds to germinate. Advice to this point in the growing season has been to postpone overseeding of cover crops (or if you were lucky, overseed ahead of the past weekend’s rain).

After about a month of minimal rainfall across the state, some much welcomed rain fell over the weekend and on Monday, September 11. The couple of hot weeks and dry conditions in August really pushed crops along across the state, even causing some to reach maturity prematurely. Silage harvest is wrapping up in many areas, and farmers are starting to hit the fields to combine.

Harvest is approaching too quickly this fall. Between the dry summer and the spurts of hot weather in August and early September, crop standability is degrading quickly. This blog will go over some potential reasons for standability issues and ways to assess and prioritize fields for harvest.

The crop just ran out of gas