News
May 29, 2021
Sandy to clay soils have different hydrological properties such as wilting point, field capacity, and saturation level (Fig 1a). Wilting point means no water is available to plants, field capacity means near optimum moisture for plant growth, and saturation means the soil pores are full of water.... Read More
May 29, 2021
The Forecast and Assessment of Cropping sysTemS (FACTS) webpage is evolving.
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May 20, 2021
The optimum rate of Nitrogen fertilizer application on corn varies from year to year and from field to field. Here we provide simulation data to aid decision making.
May 20, 2021
The concern for not having enough water during the 2021 growing season is increasing. Observations from Iowa fields (i.e., deep soil samples and tile drainage experiments), and analytical frameworks (i.e., Drought monitor) indicate below normal moisture in parts of Iowa
July 20, 2017
Water and temperature affect many crop processes simultaneously ranging from crop growth, development, photosynthesis, respiration, water transpiration, grain fill, and nutrient cycling. The magnitude of high temperature or drought stress depends also on the stage of the crop. Another factor that... Read More
June 26, 2017
Crop water use (transpiration) during the growing season is a major factor in attaining high yield potential. Soil water loss (evaporation) and crop water loss (transpiration) occur simultaneously; making predictions of evapotranspiration complex. Read full ICM News article
June 14, 2017
Corn roots grow rapidly starting at the 4th-leaf stage and continue throughout vegetative development. This typically occurs from June to early July. Several factors affect root growth, but temperature and soil moisture are the most relevant factors in the absence of soil constraints. Read full ICM... Read More
May 03, 2017
The cold, rainy weather this past weekend has presented challenging conditions for corn fields that have already been planted. Now that the weather is improving it’s good to start thinking about what the consequences might be and what to look for. Heat unit accumulation has been negligible since... Read More
November 21, 2016
The 2016 crop year is in the books. While there were a couple of periods where it looked like the weather was going to have significant impact, it turns out only to be short lived. State average yields are projected to be a record for both corn (199 bushels per acre) and soybean (59 bushels per... Read More
November 07, 2016
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... Read More
August 15, 2016
A new FACTS (Forecast and Assessment of Cropping sysTemS) forecast occurred on August 11, 2016. The forecast can be found at: /facts/weather.
June 28, 2016
Weather conditions over the last three weeks were far from average (Fig. 1). Across our Forecasting and Assessment of Cropping sysTemS (FACTS) locations, precipitation was 48% below average, while heat stress (defined as maximum temperature above 86oF), growth degree days (GDD), and radiation were... Read More
June 24, 2016
Crops are growing rapidly and questions regarding expected end-of-season yields and soil water and nitrogen (N) status in the fields become very timely. A group of faculty, researchers, farm managers, and students from Iowa State University have developed a free, publicly available online platform... Read More
FACTS is an ongoing project developed to forecast and evaluate in real-time soil-crop dynamics at specific ISU research fields (field scale) and at regional scale. Predictions will be frequently updated as new information becomes available. The project investigators and Iowa State University are not responsible for extrapolations made by individuals to other fields. Information from this website can be used for presentations without further permission if used in its entirety and credit is given to the Iowa State University FACTS project. Information from this website cannot be used in publications or other model improvement activities without prior permission of the project investigators.