Crop Watch 2025: Corn Yield Threats
Several threats are impacting corn yields this season, including overly tight tassel wrap, Southern Rust and tar spot.
Unscripted: ‘Overly Tight Tassel Wrap’ Affecting Pollination?
Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal field agronomist, joins Tyne Morgan and Clinton Griffiths to shed light on crop conditions, particularly pollination issues.
Crop Condition News
Analyzing both old and new growth, a sap test measures nutrient levels in the plant’s vascular tissues to identify current and soon-to-occur deficiencies.
Despite wet weather, farmers are making serious progress with planting. Here’s an update on how the season is shaping up in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.
GDUs offer a more reliable method to predict corn emergence and development than using calendar days, according to yield champions David Hula and Randy Dowdy. They also offer their pro tip on how to assess planting and germination depth.
Drew Lerner, founder of World Weather, Inc., says the summer of 1968 had some strong patterns, including a wetter bias in the western and north-central U.S., but drier in most of the Atlantic Coast states and parts of the eastern and southern Midwest.
Soil conditions, temperatures and weather outlook are finally aligned for planting in much of the Midwest. In the hurry to get the job done, keep in mind that to get a 300-bu. corn yield, you need to start with at least a 300-bu. picket-fence stand.
Farmers can make a poor planting scenario better by teaching their planter how to dance across fields. The practice is particularly helpful in wet soils.
Iowa farmers say a foliar fungicide application can add more bushels per acre by preventing losses to disease pressure and minimizing the impact of environmental factors, such as heat stress and drought.
David Cogen partnered with John Deere during the 2024 growing season to till, plant, spray and harvest a small field at Deere’s Boundurant, Iowa, test farm. In the process, he says he learned a lot about farming and how difficult it truly is.
Could 2025 set a new record for planting pace in Iowa? Ogden, Iowa farmers Ward and Bryant Hunter say they’ll finish planting corn on Thursday – marking the earliest finish ever on their farm.
Farmers in the upper Plains, northern Plains and Northeast came up short on snow for the 2024/25 season. In some cases, they experienced the winter that wasn’t, now sitting 10" to 30" short on normal snowfall.