Latest News From Rhonda Brooks

Some corn took a beating this week, but it still has a lot of yield potential. Also, register for our Farm Journal Corn & Soybean College. We have all new agronomic topics to help you harvest more grain this fall!

Tar spot and southern rust are increasing concerns and require a proactive management plan. Some fungicides can mitigate these and other diseases while protecting plants from stress. Retailers can guide your decisions.

Corn and soybean yield potential took another hit across the U.S. this past week, according to the USDA Crop Progress Report.

The pest injures corn most often during the VE through V5 growth stages. Timing foliar insecticide applications is critical. They are only effective when the larvae migrate and are exposed to the pesticide.

With little to no diesel readily available to fuel harvest, wheat and other grains languish in the country's fields. One analyst says he expects the global wheat market will be shorted 10 million metric tons.

Figure out which 'sins of spring' are plaguing your cornfields. Also, sign up for Corn & Soybean College. It's just a few weeks away. We have all new agronomic topics to help you take more grain to the bin this fall!

An Oregon case marks the latest in a long line of lawsuits the company has had to contend with in the past few years. Most of the 138,000 cases have come out of the U.S. residential lawn and garden marketplace.

Sizzling heat hit much of the U.S. this week. The NOAA reports May 2022 was among “Earth’s top 10 warmest months,” and that 2022 is the sixth-warmest year on record so far.

Evaluate your crop’s vulnerability to the destructive force of tar spot.

Grain markets moved higher this week. July corn was up 46¢ and December corn was up nearly 31¢. July soybeans were up just over 48¢ while November soybeans were up 40¢. All wheat prices were up as well.

The guidelines you need to follow to file and participate in the new ERP are not simple, says Paul Neiffer, a principal with CliftonLarsonAllen. He addresses what roadblocks farmers might encounter in the process.

Grower sentiment plummeted to a reading of just 99 in May, the lowest in two years. The dramatic rise in input costs “creates havoc in people’s minds,” says Jim Mintert, report co-author.

Is $20,000 the new $10,000 for farmland values?

Yes, the problem could also be a nitrogen deficiency or even a phosphate deficiency. Check out the photos provided to identify which deficiency your crop is encountering now and determine next steps.

America’s Conservation Ag Movement is hosting a series of farmer-led, in-the-field agronomic events in five states this summer. 

You may need more nitrogen to fuel this year's crop adequately. Also, cutworms are on the move. Ferrie advises dropping your threshold tolerance to 1.5%.

This spring about 100 growers in New York started shipping corn and soybeans to Europe and Africa, via the Great Lakes Seaway system.

You can leave emerging crops alone, run a rotary hoe or replant. Ken Ferrie has developed online calculators to guide decision-making and help remove some of the emotions you might struggle with in the process.

Wet fields have slowed farmers’ planting progress to a snail’s pace in some states, but that’s had little effect on broadleaf weeds and grasses. Many are growing rapidly in parts of the Midwest.

The president of the American Farm Bureau Federation weighs in on immigration reform and year-round work permits, Waters of the U.S. concerns and support for the new Climate-Smart Commodities Program.

Farmland in parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska, for example, have seen 30% to 40% year-over-year moves up in price. One expert sees no land price weakness anywhere in the U.S. but shares how that could change.

Be proactive and go to the field sooner rather than later. Once that crust hardens, it can hinder or even prevent crop emergence. Either or both will cost you money.

It's also time to consider switching to corn planting if you are unable to plant corn and soybeans simultaneously. Beware of salt-burn risks in spring strip tillage, and start checking soybeans for bean leaf beetles.

When you plant corn does matter, but there are in-season factors that play a significant role in final outcomes as well, according to USDA and agronomists.

CEO of ClearFlame says its modified diesel engines in trucks and farm machinery offer the same power and performance of traditional diesel engines but with lower fuel costs and fewer emissions. Look for them this summer.

Much of the Midwest is seeing cool, wet conditions while the West is increasingly dry. If you plant in poor soil conditions, you will pay for that mistake at harvest, say agronomists. Their recommendation: be patient.

The case occurred in a person who had direct exposure to poultry and was involved in the culling process of poultry with presumptive H5N1 bird flu, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The fundamentals were already in place, forecasting positive prices for grain. The war in the Ukraine has strengthened that prediction.

Bees, butterflies and other pollinators play a valuable role in food production. Farmers can do their part to protect pollinators by implementing these best management practices.

With these high corn prices, plant corn when conditions are right, says Ken Ferrie. Don't act in haste and set yourself up for corn replant decisions. If you have to push conditions and plant, go with soybeans.

This three-way premix features S-metolachlor, metribuzin and cloransulam-methyl. The formulation controls 70 small- and large-seeded broadleaf weeds and grasses, including Palmer amaranth, waterhemp and lambsquarters.

“We would be taxed on the increased value of our farmland if we've held it for over 90 years,” says U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-Mo.).

An adjuvant based on wood waste reduces herbicide drift.

About 500 rural counties in the U.S. have too few or no veterinarians. The lack poses risks to farming livelihoods and, ultimately, the country's food supply.

Married and on the farm? If one spouse dies, make sure the surviving spouse works with an adviser to file IRS Form 706 to benefit from any unused federal gift or estate tax exemption. You could save millions.

Availability could be a challenge this season. If you can only make one application, pull the trigger between tassel and R3 in corn and between R2 and R3 in soybeans, advises Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.

Running a high-speed disk with gang angles can put in compaction layers if soil is too wet. Same thing can happen with wheel tracks from vertical tillage. Make a soil ribbon to evaluate conditions and guide decisions.

Not every product will deliver a positive return-on-investment. But some will and are worth trying out on your farm this season--especially if you're planting early soybeans, says Illinois Sales Agronomist Kris Ehler.

BASF and Bosch are developing new technology for weed management. Their system photographs weeds, signals nozzles to spray and records the data in milliseconds. Farmers then get a map printout for easy reference.

Cases in commercial poultry operations and backyard flocks are mounting across the U.S., a result of infected droppings from migrating birds. The USDA says there are no immediate human health concerns.

Weather conditions can guide planting conditions. The calendar plays a role, too. Watch the brief video on soybean maturities and why night length is so important to the flowering process.

Nick Gordiichuk estimates farmers will plant about 25% of their crops this year. He has no idea when he will get back into fields. Many contain landmines, unexploded rockets and war's debris.

Gear your control efforts toward weeds that emerge when air temperatures are between 40 and 70 degrees °F. These include ragweed species, common lambsquarters, burcucumber, kochia, common sunflower and marestail.

The plan is to capture CO2 from the fermentation process of the plants in a five-state region, compress it into liquid form, then move it by pipeline to North Dakota for storage.

For weed control in soybeans you need a back-up plan to your back-up plan this season.

Here's one way to know whether you work with a reputable seed company. Along with that, it's time to put out lures and traps for various pests, including wireworms, armyworms and voles.

The good news is some parched areas are likely to see some rainfall soon. The potential downside: some areas that don't need rain may get some, too.

Preview 2.1 SC herbicide from UPL targets tough broadleaf weeds and will be available for use on about half a million soybean acres this season.

The northern corn rootworm lays eggs that can sit in soils between two and five years before hatching. That complicates control measures.

Scientists expect corn hybrids containing the technology will help farmers regain the upper hand over a variety of above-ground and below-ground pests that current technology is struggling to contain.