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As farming slows down for the winter, many producers start thinking about what tools they might want to add to their farm for the next crop season. Throughout the year, we’ve shared information on equipment and products that you might be considering for your operation. If you are looking to change up your equipment or technology before the 2021 crop year, here’s a comprehensive list of articles, video, and information that might be helpful in making these decisions to best support your operation.

Planting

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. 

In this video, Field Agronomist Meaghan Anderson and Weed Specialist Bob Hartzler discuss the unique situation many farmers face with volunteer and options for encouraging germination this fall and reducing the number of volunteer plants you may have to deal with next year. 

Adjustable vertical tillage (VT) tools can easily allow you to till your fields more or less aggressively depending on the tool’s gang angle setting. In this video, Dr. Matt Darr shows the impact different gang angle settings have just below the soil surface.

After the derecho passed through Iowa in early August, many farmers have been left with unharvestable fields. These fields may require additional management to prepare the soil for another crop next season. In this video, Dr. Matt Darr reviews the results of four tillage options five days after tillage, and the benefits of each tool to help you choose which option is right for your operation this fall.

Following the derecho event on August 10, millions of acres in Iowa face challenging conditions. In many cases the corn may be unharvestable. These unharvestable fields require some level of fall management to ensure the future crop can achieve even emergence and normal early plant growth.

Combine headers contribute to residue management by sizing and distributing corn biomass. Even in no-till situations, a mechanical size reduction process will be needed in unharvestable fields to achieve the field conditions expected after the combine pass.