Corn
Understanding how and when corn reacts to nutrient stress can help you make every pound of N earn its keep this season, says Missy Bauer, Farm Journal Field Agronomist.
Ken Ferrie warns that anhydrous ammonia won’t help young plants fight the carbon penalty this spring. He details how to bridge the nitrogen gap and protect your yield potential.
Beetle capture data reveals pest numbers are rising, with 31% of sampled fields exceeding economic thresholds.
From planting depth to using low-salt in-furrow products, David Hula and Randy Dowdy detail management practices that help drive uniform, rapid emergence and early growth.
While farmers are facing higher fertilizer prices due to the Iran conflict the inability to move fertilizer through the Strait of Hormuz is also threatening spring supplies.
Prioritize timing and placement to ensure young corn plants have access to enough N to withstand any disruption from microbial immobilization.
The situation in Iran drove fertilizer prices higher this week while raising shortage fears. Analysts warn higher input costs could shift up to 1 million 1.5 million acres from corn to soybeans this spring.
USDA is urging farmers to respond to 2026 acreage surveys as skepticism grows over recent corn acreage revisions. Officials say stronger participation is key to maintaining the accuracy and credibility of crop reports.
How you manage the mix in cornfields can determine whether the nitrogen feeds your crop or disappears into thin air.
Unlock higher corn yields and more profit potential by aligning N applications with peak uptake windows.
Bigger roots, higher populations, and easier in-season access mean fertility programs should look different for these new hybrids.
Ken Ferrie explains how to prioritize planter attachments, why digging cross-sections is essential for ground-truthing planter performance, and the hidden risks of excessive closing wheel downforce.
The winning yield in the 2025 NCGA Corn Yield Contest further solidifies Hula’s long legacy of achievement and commitment to corn production excellence.
In many areas of the Corn Belt, farmers experienced 10-to-50-bu.-per-acre yield losses from disease pressure this year, says Ken Ferrie. In a period of tight margins, timely treatment decisions were more crucial than usual.
Because every growing season is unique, agronomists are encouraging corn growers to make a management plan for the “driver diseases” they’re most likely to encounter in fields next year.
Number of bushels per acre is high on their list of priorities, but it’s not necessarily their No. 1 concern going into 2026.
As crops go into bins, growers will be looking to maintain quality until their marketing opportunities improve. Some ongoing management practices are vital to the process.
While many farmers in the state were delighted by the results the 2025 season delivered, that wasn’t the case everywhere. In some areas, Mother Nature delivered a series of agronomic problems that dominoed and turned a potential bin buster crop into one that was average at best by harvest.
Corn yield champs say annual soil testing is the best way to make sure fields are up to the goal of delivering profitable high yields every season.
After three straight years of having a May-planted crop that outperformed corn planted only a few weeks earlier, some Illinois farmers are ready to throw in the towel on planting corn before the calendar turns to May.
With low commodity prices and higher input costs, identifying hybrids that are a good fit for your soil types and environmental conditions is more important than ever – and can give you a leg up on yield performance from the get-go next spring.
Basis levels improved this week, with some analysts saying it could have been from China buying, even if the government shutdown means no daily export sales data can offer proof. But one analyst says there is a bullish case for corn, especially considering global stocks of corn relative to use, are the tightest since the 2012 drought.
As Jed Bower takes the helm at NCGA, he is working to expand market opportunities in the U.S. and abroad, and looking for practical ways to reduce regulatory burdens on farmers.
At the Reints farm in northeast Iowa, corn yields have been running higher than last year, but a lot of yield potential was left in the field due to disease, specifically a rare strain of southern rust.
It’s a head-scratcher situation: some Illinois farmers are reporting moisture levels in their corn are dropping only one point per week.
It’s not disease hurting the Illinois corn and soybean crop this year. It’s dryness and drought. Ashland, Ill., farmer Brent Johnson says just two weeks into harvest, the dry finish to summer is eating into both his corn and soybean yields.
The crop took it on the chin this season, with some Iowa farmers reporting huge yield losses as harvest gets underway. A one-time fungicide application helped, but it wasn’t enough to buck severe disease pressure, allowing it to return.
Market analysts says the September WASDE did not fully account for the disease pressure and dry finish in the East in both the corn and soybean crop.
Kernel depth and fill contribute significantly to yield in newer hybrids. It’s one reason a ‘Hail Mary’ fungicide pass might still offer ROI and keep corn standing until combines roll.
Infection may not directly impact herd health, but it can have implications for nutritional management.