Are farmers protected by the agricultural practices exemption of the Clean Water Act? That is the centerpiece of a court hearing getting underway in California.

The late-season irrigation know-how Olan Moore started using in Texas corn growers’ fields 40 years ago is common in the Lone Star state but still relatively unknown in the Midwest. Moore, owner of High Plains Consulting near Springlake, Texas, says the practice boils down to this: “When corn matures, and that milk line is one-half of the way down and you have 90-degree-temperatures-plus, if you don’t have 4.45” to 5” of soil moisture in the top 3’ of the soil profile you could lose up to 30- to 40-bu. per acre of corn,” he explains. “Just 2” to 3” applied through the pivot can make a huge difference on the tail end of the season.”

USDA lowered corn yields and increase soybean yields, despite poor crop ratings in many areas. Jerry Gulke provides his take.

Summer crop harvest is a few weeks away, and bin space could be a concern to some farmers.

Syngenta will sell corn and soybeans with Dow AgroSciences Enlist event following their agreement with Dow AgroSciences and M.S. Technologies.

After experiencing a strong rally over the past month, the grain markets came crashing down this week. “You could call it a virtual collapse of the markets,” says Jerry Gulke of the Gulke Group.

Market speculators may be the most reviled contributors to the agricultural economy, but they play an important role in commodities trading and have increasing power to impact the markets.

Estimate increased by 2.2% from figure projected in June.

Massive piles of corn stored in the open air. That’s the consequence of a huge corn crop in Brazil’s largest producing state, Mato Grosso.

As corn is setting kernels there are many factors that influence its success, pollination among the most critical. Weather, insects, delayed silk emergence and other stresses could all negatively impact the number of kernels on each cob.