Crop Production

Carbon Penalty Looms As Corn Enters ‘Ugly’ Growth Stage

Fri, 29 May 2026 16:55:17 GMT

Corn is moving into the rapid growth stage across much of Illinois, just as a hidden yield thief wakes up beneath the residue. Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie says the “carbon penalty” is about to appear, and some farmers’ nitrogen plans aren’t ready for the hit.

I do anticipate somewhat stronger-than-normal carbon penalty here locally, especially in our corn-on-corn fields,” says Ferrie, who’s based south of Bloomington, Ill. “This is due to the low amount of stalk breakdown that we got through the fall and winter.”

The carbon penalty, he explains, is tied directly to carbon load and soil temperatures. Once minimum soil temperatures stay above about 60°F and daytime highs run in the upper 70s to low 80s for roughly five days, soil microbes “explode” and start chewing through residue at a rapid pace. In the process, they temporarily tie up nitrogen that young corn plants and small soybeans need.

He expects this year’s carbon penalty to kick in “next week” as temperatures rise in his area, overlapping squarely with what he calls the ugly corn phase. He encourages farmers in other parts of the Midwest to evaluate their risks, as well.

When ‘Ugly Corn’ And Carbon Penalty Collide

Ferrie says most May-planted corn in central Illinois is now at V3 to V4, the point when plants begin handing off from seed roots to crown roots. This is the point when things can fall apart in the crop.

“If anything has interfered with crown root development, this handoff is messed up,” Ferrie says. “The seed starch is enough to build a pretty impressive plant up to like V3, but if the handoff is missed, a uniform field can start to come apart in a hurry.”

Sidewall smearing, compaction, herbicide injury, insect feeding and dry soils can all undermine crown roots. Layer a strong carbon penalty on top of weak root systems and fields can turn “ugly” fast.

“You have the ugly corn phase of crown issues, and then if you compound that with a carbon penalty, it can make for some pretty tough-looking stuff,” he says.

So far, most ugly corn service calls Ferrie is making are in April-planted fields. But with warmer weather coming and more corn reaching the critical V3 to V4 window, he expects May-planted acres to start showing problems in the next 10 days.

Diagnosing The Problem: Roots Or Nitrogen?

When scouting fields that look rough, Ferrie urges farmers to sort out whether they are looking at poor crown root development, a nitrogen (N) shortage tied to the carbon penalty, or a combination of the two.

If the primary issue is a nitrogen deficiency from carbon tie-up, farmer options are limited and time-sensitive.

“If it’s an N deficiency due to carbon penalty, there’s not much you can do but maybe move up your sidedress timing,” Ferrie says.

He recommends banding nitrogen closer to the base of the plants and timing nutrient applications ahead of or with a small rain to help get N into the root zone.

If poor root development is the main culprit, the fix might look different. When sidewall smearing or a dry surface layer leads to rootless corn syndrome, Ferrie says mechanical intervention can pay.

“You may consider row-crop cultivating as soon as you can get through and roll some soil around the base of that plant,” he advises. “This will stimulate crown roots and brace roots to trigger quicker.”

Cultivating, however, is not a cure-all. Ferrie cautions that in situations where last year’s herbicide has carried over, working the ground doesn’t typically solve the issue.

Rethinking Your Nitrogen Strategy And The 4Rs

Ferrie says some growers are discovering their nitrogen plans did not fully account for the carbon penalty, especially where they switched to fall-applied anhydrous to save on costs.

“Some of the issues we’re dealing with are caused by guys switching to fall-applied anhydrous for cost savings—and we all need those—but didn’t hold enough N back to pay the carbon penalty while the roots are trying to get deep enough to find that anhydrous pan,” he says.

That risk is amplified in corn-on-corn, where residue loads and microbial demand are highest.

“If this shows up to be a problem consistently, you need to rethink your 4R program when it comes to nitrogen,” Ferrie says. “If you’re not planning on pulling nitrates, be sure to look over your nutrient plan. If you’ve changed it or you’ve raised that yield goal, we’ll need to adjust those rates for you, especially if you’re running variable-rate nitrogen.”

Ferrie notes that early nitrate samples look “pretty nitrogen-friendly” this season in his area, but he’s already fielded calls from growers surprised to see sidedress rates jump 30 to 60 pounds above the original plan once fall fertilizer shortfalls and higher yield goals were factored in.

Soybeans Can Hit The Wall, Too

Soybeans are also vulnerable to the carbon penalty and can stall as well.

“Soybeans can get caught in the carbon penalty if they’re smaller than that V3 size,” Ferrie says. “They don’t produce much nitrogen until they’re in the V4 range. Older beans will roll right through it without any trouble, but the last-planted beans could stall out in that carbon penalty, and it could take a couple weeks to get them back going again.”

In the coming two weeks, Ferrie wants farmers and scouts evaluating root development, nitrogen status and residue load.

“Those sins of spring will start to show up in that ugly corn phase,” he says. “The key is to figure out what you’re dealing with, and then decide if you need to move N sooner, change how you’re applying it, or get out there and help those roots do their job.”

You can get all of Ken Ferrie’s recommendations in the latest edition of his Boots In The Field podcast at the link below:

Tight Margins Force Corn Belt Farmers To Slash Inputs

Thu, 28 May 2026 17:47:52 GMT

Southeast Minnesota farmer Brad Nelson typically starts investing in his next corn crop in the fall with an application of dry fertilizer. This past year, he drew a hard line on what to apply. With prices already high and margins tightening, Nelson “pretty well dropped phosphorus (P) out of any field,” spreading it on only a few acres and then walking away from the rest.

A few hundred miles away in eastern Nebraska, fellow corn grower Tim Gregerson was making a similar calculation. Also pulling back on phosphorus, Gregerson decided to further stretch his fertilizer dollars with improved application timing. Using data from his latest grid samples, he plans to sidedress his corn crop in mid- to late June via a Y-drop application.

“Liquid costs more than dry, but we are going to give this crop some liquid P and K,” Gregerson says. “We’re cutting back overall and hoping our application timing is going to help us stretch that fertilizer dollar further.”

This decision will help Gregerson place the fertilizer directly at the root zone, making it available when the corn enters its peak growth and demand phases (V8 to tassel), preventing costly waste through leaching or volatilization.

Farmers Are Quietly Making Moves

The cost-cutting measures adopted by Nelson and Gregerson reflect a broader shift occurring across the Corn Belt. To combat an unsustainable cost structure, many growers are aggressively scaling back application rates, while others abandoned corn in favor of soybeans, which require a significantly less capital investment up front.

“People don’t really talk about their own situation too much, but there’s just no doubt that the dollars aren’t floating around here, like they normally do (for inputs),” Nelson says.

He saw recent, unexpected evidence of this at his Pioneer seed dealer’s facility: pallets of seed corn stacked and sitting in the warehouse.

“I was kind of surprised and asked about it,” Nelson recalls. “They had two guys bring back 350 bags of seed corn because they didn’t buy any fertilizer ahead of time.”

According to a district sales manager Nelson talked with, the warehouse scene was far from isolated. Growers who failed to prepay and lock in lower fertilizer rates over the winter simply could not justify the soaring cost of spring nitrogen, forcing a late-season pivot to soybeans.

The ’27 Season Is Already On Farmers’ Minds

With the current crop year already proving difficult, both Gregerson and Nelson are expressing concern over what lies ahead. A primary anxiety is the looming collision between high retail input costs and a depressed grain market.

“Anhydrous this spring here was $1,050 to $1,100 a ton,” Nelson says. “What are you going to do come fall when the dealers come asking you for $1,000 for anhydrous and corn is sitting at $4 to $4.50? That is not a recipe for success in any way, shape or form.”

Gregerson notes that the economic pressure on farm families is compounding beyond the field. Macroeconomic factors, including persistent food inflation and the rising cost of everyday consumer goods, are driving up household living expenses at the worst possible time.

“With our inputs up as high as they are, what prices come next year is probably the biggest issue I see,” Gregerson says.

This Is Not Just A Fertilizer Problem

The mandate to trim budgets has extended well beyond fertilizer, forcing growers to re-evaluate their entire crop protection programs, including fungicides and herbicides. Gregerson, who in previous years applied a preventative half-rate of fungicide during his post-emergence herbicide passes to combat a crown rot problem, decided to drop the application entirely this year after seeing no measurable return on investment.

Meanwhile, unpredictable weather has further complicated cost-control efforts. A lack of spring moisture left Gregerson’s pre-emergence herbicides under-activated, meaning weeds went unchecked. He now anticipates needing more post-emergence rescue passes than he had originally budgeted for.

“We were hoping that our pre would work really, really well so that we could limit and not have to post-emerge spray all of our corn and bean fields,” Gregerson says. “It’s going to be a little iffy. We’re hoping there’ll be a handful of fields we can maybe hold back on.”

As the season progresses, both Gregerson and Nelson agree the current economic trajectory is unsustainable for the average family farm, leaving many growers watching the markets with more questions than answers.

To hear the full discussion on crop progress, inputs, and the broader direction of the U.S. agricultural economy, listen to Brad Nelson and Tim Gregerson on this week’s Farmer Forum on AgriTalk with Host Chip Flory, at the link below.

Forget the El Niño Hype: Eric Snodgrass Says This Is the Weather Signal That Matters This Summer

Wed, 27 May 2026 16:14:26 GMT

After months of relentless drought across much of farm country, meteorologist Eric Snodgrass says a major weather pattern shift is underway, and it could bring much-needed relief to some of the driest areas of the U.S. heading into summer.

Nearly 75% of the country remains in some form of drought , but Snodgrass says forecast models are signaling widespread rainfall from Texas through the Midwest and into the Southeast over the next several weeks, with some areas expected to pick up several inches of rain. And while El Niño headlines continue to fuel concerns about extreme weather and even global food shortages, Snodgrass says producers should pay closer attention to ocean temperatures off the West Coast than fear-driven forecasts circulating online.

76% of the U.S. is seeing dryness, which is up from 62% the week prior.

(U.S. Drought Monitor )

According to Snodgrass, a strong Bermuda high is helping drive widespread precipitation from eastern Texas through the Mississippi Valley and into the Ohio Valley and Southeast over the next 10 days. He also points to a corridor stretching through the western Corn Belt into southern Canada that could finally see meaningful rainfall.

“Is it going to cure the drought? No,” Snodgrass says. “But the chances of getting rain back West is good while the upper Midwest gets a little bit of a chance to slow down and dry out.”

For producers in the South, Snodgrass says some areas could receive between four and six inches of rain in the near term.

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Wetter Pattern Could Extend Into Summer

While the immediate forecast is important, Snodgrass says the bigger question is what happens deeper into summer. He says the latest European weather model keeps much of the Midwest and Eastern U.S. wetter than normal through at least early July.

“That trend goes all the way through the Fourth of July and a little bit beyond,” Snodgrass says.

Ocean temperatures are one indication to watch.

(Eric Snodgrass )

As conversations around El Niño continue to dominate weather discussions, Snodgrass says producers should not focus solely on Pacific Ocean temperatures near the equator. In fact, he says El Niño historically has a weak correlation to U.S. summer weather patterns during the heart of summer.

Instead, Snodgrass says producers need to watch ocean temperatures off the West Coast and in the Gulf of Alaska.

When it gets cold in the Gulf of Alaska, it brings drier conditions. But warmer temperatures bring more rainfall to the Midwest.

(Eric Snodgrass)

“The ocean temperatures off the West Coast in the Northeast Pacific are a much bigger determinant of the summer weather patterns,” Snodgrass says.

He explains that colder waters in the Gulf of Alaska typically correlate with drier conditions across the Midwest and Plains. But with warmer-than-normal waters currently in place, Snodgrass says that supports a more active thunderstorm pattern and additional rainfall chances for much of the central U.S.

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Heat and Drought Risks Still Linger

Despite the wetter outlook, Snodgrass says drought concerns are far from over, especially for parts of the Cotton Belt later this summer.

“This is what I think the summer outlook could look like with a warm Northeast Pacific and a building El Niño,” Snodgrass says. “And yes, it does mean some Cotton Belt drought risk despite all the rains coming in there right now.”

Eric says his summer outlook points to warmer than average temperatures across the West, with dry conditions in the Pacific Northwest and was as the Cotton Belt. He think the Southwest and upper Midwest and even parts of the Northern Plains could be wetter than normal.

(Eric Snodgrass)

Snodgrass says he expects the Northwest to remain the primary hotspot for heat and drought this summer, while much of the Midwest could trend cooler with more storm activity than average.

The latest outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center paints a similar picture with much of the southern and western U.S. expected to trend warmer than normal this summer, while parts of the northern Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes could see cooler or near-normal temperatures.

Temperature outlook for summer.

(CPC )

Moisture forecast for summer.

(CPC)

On the precipitation side, the CPC outlook favors wetter-than-normal conditions across portions of the eastern U.S., Gulf Coast and parts of the Southwest, while drier-than-normal weather is expected across the Pacific Northwest, Rockies and portions of the central Plains.

The outlook also reflects increasing confidence that El Niño could develop later this summer and persist into the end of the year.

What About the ‘Super El Niño’ Famine Headlines?

Snodgrass also addressed recent headlines warning a potential “super El Niño” could trigger a global famine.

“You’ve got to remember that super El Niño forecast is referencing an El Niño event which happened more than a century ago,” Snodgrass says.

While he says drought risks in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and India are legitimate concerns—especially given the population concentrated in those regions—he cautions against sensational predictions.

“My biggest concerns with any El Niño are drought in Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, and the Indian monsoon being weak,” Snodgrass says. “So yes, drought could be a major factor in that area, but global famine, I’m not so sure of.”

Snodgrass says portions of Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean could also face drier conditions later in the season, particularly if hurricane activity trends below normal.

Still, he says producers should take a measured approach when evaluating some of the more dramatic headlines circulating online.

“I would take a bit more measured view of that,” Snodgrass says, noting modern infrastructure and agricultural systems are far different than they were a century ago.

A $60-Per-Acre Risk: The High Cost Of Switching Corn Hybrids Too Early

Wed, 20 May 2026 18:10:37 GMT

According to the USDA’s weekly Crop Progress Report released on May 18, 2026, the nationwide planting pace for both corn and soybeans is running well ahead of historical averages:

The national snapshot shows:

Corn: 76% complete nationwide (6 points ahead of the 5-year average of 70%).
Soybeans: 67% complete nationwide (14 points ahead of the 5-year average of 53%).

While farmers in much of the country are cruising through planting, in several regions farmers are battling with weather. Rain and wet soils have created at least three logjams across the Corn Belt:

1. The Great Lakes Region, specifically Michigan & Northwest Ohio
2. Mid-Mississippi Valley, especially Missouri
3. Isolated Pockets of parts of Illinois

At the other extreme: much of the western U.S. and the Southeast are still being hammered by drought conditions.

Corn Strategy: Stick To The Plan (For Now)

As calendar pressure builds, farmers will start to consider switching corn hybrids and soybean maturities. However, Mike Hannewald, field agronomist for Beck’s Hybrids, warns that abandoning your original corn and soybean plans could be the biggest mistake you can make right now.

“We want to stick with the original plan, unless we’re really doing something extreme with 115‑day corn, or something excessive like that,” says Ohio-based Hannewald.

Here is why the data says you should hold the line through the rest of May, if you are in the Corn Belt:

The GDU “Cheat” Code: Research from Ohio State and Purdue University shows that for every day after May 1, there is a 6.8 Growing Degree Unit (GDU) reduction in the total number of GDUs corn needs to reach black layer. The corn detects it is late and actually accelerates its vegetative growth, writes Bob Nielsen, former Purdue University Extension corn specialist and professor emeritus.
The ROI on Full-Season Genetics: Granted, late-planted corn will be wetter at harvest, but Practical Farm Research (PFR) data shows the yield advantage of fuller-season hybrids will cover the drying costs and then some. The 3-year study factoring in drying costs at 4 cents per point revealed significant penalties for switching to early maturities too soon. As indicated in the chart below, going from a 112-day hybrid to a 105-day hybrid reduced net return by $63. Some of the other options show more extreme results.

(Beck’s Hybrids)

Hannewald draws the line at June 1. Once June arrives, he says it’s time to run GDU calculations to ensure your corn crop can reach black layer before the first fall frost for your area.

Soybean Strategy: Keep Maturity, Push Populations

For soybeans, Hannewald’s advice is identical on maturity but carries a critical management twist: leave your varieties in place, but crank up the seeding rate.

He says the data shows full-season bean varieties consistently out-yield short-season options because they have more calendar time to grow. However, late-planted beans lose time to build critical nodes and pods. To compensate for that issue, he tells farmers to pull the population lever.

Starting about now (May 20), he advises increasing your soybean planting population by 10,000 seeds per acre, per week. For example:

Week of May 20: If your base is 130,000, bump to 140,000.
Following Week: Bump to 150,000, and so on.
The Ceiling: Top out around 200,000 for a planter, or 220,000 for a drill if planting drags deep into June.

Shawn Conley, Extension soybean and small grains specialist at the University of Wisconsin, has a different perspective. He says most farmers should stay with about 100,000 to 140,000 seeds per acre if planting late but to narrow up your rows, if possible.

Optimal seeding rate for planting would be 100,000 seeds per acre, even in mid-May, according to Shawn Conley. “But, that really doesn’t take into effect delayed canopy and management of waterhemp,” he notes. For replanting considerations, Conley says he tells farmers that unless they have under 60,000 plants per acre and actively growing, his advice is “don’t do anything.”

(Shawn Conley)

The Golden Rule: Conditions Trump The Calendar

Even though the clock is ticking, Hannewald reminds growers that “mudding it in” is a losing proposition for planting either crop.

“Planting too wet into poor conditions and causing uneven emergence actually costs us more later in the season than what it did early, and that plays true for both corn and beans,” he says.

Learn more of Hannewald’s take on how to evaluate whether to switch corn hybrids and soybean maturities at the video here .

Asian Copperleaf On The Move In Iowa And Illinois

Tue, 19 May 2026 17:11:08 GMT

Asian copperleaf isn’t a household name in the Midwest, but in a growing cluster of Iowa fields the weed is starting to reshape farmers’ herbicide plans and harvest decisions, according to Meaghan Anderson, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist.

She reports the weed is now confirmed in 10 Iowa counties: Black Hawk (first confirmation was in 2016), Boone, Buchanan, Calhoun, Fayette, Franklin, Grundy, Hardin, Humboldt and Wright.

Farmers who have identified the weed in their fields are taking measures to control it this season, Anderson says. Others may not realize they have the weed, as it is such a newcomer in the state and no one has determined how it arrived.

Key Corridor Of Concern

Asian copperleaf is non-native to the United States. The first confirmed populations of this species were documented in New York in 1990. Currently, in Iowa, the weed’s known footprint cuts a narrow but significant swath across the center of the state.

“What’s particularly interesting to me is that Highway 20 runs through that area,” Anderson says. “There’s something about that corridor, whether it’s that the environment is well-suited for the weed or whether there’s actually something to do with the highway, we’ve really got no idea.”

The weed expanded across state boundaries this past year. University of Illinois crop scientists confirmed Asian copperleaf in Stephenson County, northwest Illinois, following corn harvest last fall. This finding is the first confirmed Asian copperleaf population in the state.

The Risk To Crop Yields

As of now, there is no concrete data from Midwest fields on yield impact from the weed in corn and soybeans yet, but Anderson does not dismiss the risk.

“There is a paper from South Korea that said with extremely high populations of Asian copperleaf, (farmers there) could see anywhere from about a 17% to 29% yield reduction in soybean,” she says.

The weed often shows up in patches along field edges, in gaps in the crop canopy, and in wetter, slow-to-grow cropping areas within fields. Those patterns make formal yield trials tricky, but growing infestations in Buchanan and Fayette counties are big enough for in-field studies this year, she notes.

“As awful and unlucky as it is for some of these farmers, it means we can now do some research in the field,” Anderson says. “Hopefully we’ll gather some more useful information, and we may be able to gather some of the yield data as well.”

Management And Control Measures

For growers currently managing the weed, Anderson says the priority is to minimize seed movement and prevent the weed’s spread. On the chemistry front for control, she stresses that the recommendations are early and based on greenhouse screening plus limited farmer experience. Even so, some trends are emerging.

“When we sprayed one of the populations with post herbicides, it was quite clear that the contact products like our Group 14s and Liberty (glufosinate) were superior to basically any of the other options we screened for post-emergence control,” she says.

She adds that growth regulator herbicides and glyphosate appear to do “OK,” but she reiterates the strongest performance has come from Group 14 contact herbicides.

“It has a really long emergence pattern, so people can, for better or worse, think of it kind of like waterhemp right now,” Anderson adds. “It’s going to emerge fairly late into the summer, as long as it’s got enough sunlight and moisture.”

New Publication Details More Insights

The biggest immediate risk for farmers in areas where the weed has been found may be simple misidentification. Crop scientists from Iowa and Illinois have put together a new flyer to provide more insignts on the new weed species: Asian copperleaf publication .

Anderson urges farmers and agronomists to push pause whenever scouting weed pressure and something looks out of the ordinary.

“This time of year, the weed will be emerging through pre-herbicides. If you’re seeing a thick mat of something that looks like waterhemp but isn’t behaving like it, let us know,” she says. “We need as many eyes on this weed as we can get.”

Don’t Rush The Replant: Field Conditions And ROI Outweigh The Calendar

Thu, 14 May 2026 20:26:02 GMT

Corn and soybean growers facing slow emergence, shrinking planting windows and cool soils shouldn’t reach for the replant button too quickly, say University of Wisconsin’s Harkirat Kaur and Shawn Conley. They emphasize that field conditions, stand uniformity and return on investment matter more than the date on the calendar.

When damage occurs in corn, the first step is to diagnose what happened to cause the loss, advises Harkirat Kaur, Extension corn specialist at the university.

“Are you seeing stand loss because of seedling issues? Was the hybrid vigor not there? Is there waterlogging? Those things are important to understand, because replanting a field which is damaged is still an extra cost that we incur,” Kaur says.

She believes stand uniformity often matters more than the plant population for corn.

“A uniform stand at a low population is better than having a stand which is at a higher population but has quite a few gaps in it,” she says. “No. 1, it will impact your overall nutrient uptake for the entire field. Secondly, it will also impact your overall operations as you move further into the season.”

Calendar date, surviving stand quality and hybrid maturity all have to be weighed together in the decision.

“If you are looking at a surviving stand which is less than 70% of what your original target was, then you might want to go for a replant,” Kaur says. “But is that replant going to be this soon? It depends if the field is clearly showing no signs of recovery, showing a complete loss of uniformity across the field.”

In many cases, she recommends patience – especially when a frost or hail event enters the picture.

“It is always good to give the crop some time to recover,” she advises, particularly when hail strikes while the growing point is still below ground. “Most of the corn plants in May or early June have their growing point still under the ground (in Wisconsin), and those plants often have the ability to recover from these stresses.”

Running The Corn Replant Math

To frame the replant decision, Kaur walks through a replant return-on-investment scenario for a southern Wisconsin field that was planted May 5 with a full-season 113-day hybrid.

Extension corn specialist Harkirat Kaur shared this example of when replanting would deliver more ROI than sticking with the existing crop. The decision to replant would make sense, depending on how many acres would be able to deliver this financial advantage.

(Harkirat Kaur)

In her example, a stress event drops the stand from a target of 34,000 plants to around 18,000 — roughly 60% to 65% of the original population. That moves expected yield from about 215 bushels per acre to a range of 130 to 160 bushels, or roughly $602 per acre in gross income at current price assumptions.

Replanting later in May means giving up some yield potential to fewer heat units, but it may still pencil out.

“With replanting, the yield potential comes down to about 80% to 85%, which brings the number to approximately around 180 bushels per acre,” she says. “Then we need to account for the replant cost — the cost for new seed, the cost for your fuel, and the time that you’re spending.”

In her example, even after those expenses, the net return on replanting comes out ahead.

“That would bring us to a net of around $675 per acre,” Kaur says. “We are having anywhere around a net advantage of replanting of about $70 to $72 per acre, which could be a bigger number when we are looking at hundreds of acres.”

Still, she frames replant as a decision of last resort.

“Replanting only when the ROI is likely to be positive is critical,” she says. “Keeping ROI over all the operation in mind is the No. 1 thing.”

Nitrogen, Natural Gas And Timing

Kaur also links replant timing to nitrogen management and volatile natural gas markets.

“Natural gas is very critical for agricultural production, because it drives the production of our nitrogen fertilizers,” she says. “When we are looking at overall gas price instability, it reflects in our agricultural cost anywhere between two to eight weeks when it is happening at the global scale.”

Before deciding to replant, she urges farmers to know where they stand on nitrogen availability.

“We need to ensure how much nitrogen is already in the ground and how much nitrogen is still available to be used for the crops,” she says. “Doing another soil analysis might be of use. It might help save the cost of applying more nitrogen, or also putting in hours of applying that fertilizer.”

Kaur says split nitrogen application strategies become more valuable in a tough economic year like this.

“Protecting existing nitrogen investment is critical,” she says. “If you (can), plan for a sidedress. Then replanting before the sidedress is something that can help you save some of your time and also some of your money.”

For Soybeans, ‘Don’t Change Anything’ — Except Row Width

On the soybean side, Shawn Conley, Extension soybean and small grains specialist at the University of Wisconsin, offers his take on next steps at this point in the season.

“In short, basically, don’t change anything except maybe narrow your soybean rows up if you can,” he says. “

Most of his university research plots across Wisconsin are already planted, though some beans are still sitting in dry soil waiting on a rain.

Conley adds that he expects Wisconsin farmers to plant roughly a half-million more soybean acres in 2026 than they did in 2025, based on current projections and spring conditions.

Prioritize Corn Now, Finish Beans After

For growers juggling both crops, Conley says the yield penalty curve has flipped solidly in favor of corn.

“At this time of the growing season, where we are sitting in May, we’re really in this significant decline in yield penalty for delayed planting in corn versus where we are with soybean,” he explains.

“We’re obviously losing yield by delaying soybean planting, too, but not to the extent that we are with corn,” he adds. “It pains me to say, and I tweeted this out last week — it’s time to prioritize corn planting, if possible, if the ground is fit.”

His message to farmers: get corn wrapped up, then come back and finish soybeans.

Seeding Rate And Replant Thresholds

Conley does not see a need to bump soybean seeding rates for now, even with cooler conditions.

His economic analysis shows little payoff at this point, once seed cost and yield are both considered.

(Shawn Conley)

“Optimal seeding rate would be 100,000 seeds per acre, even in this May 13 timeframe,” he notes. “But, that really doesn’t take into effect delayed canopy and management of waterhemp.”

In high weed pressure, Conley says most farmers should stay with about 140,000 seeds per acre unless they have a “very strong weed management plan on the waterhemp.”

On replant decisions, his threshold is clear.

“Generally, what we tell farmers is that unless you have under 60,000 plants per acre and actively growing, don’t do anything,” Conley says. “Don’t even touch that crop.”

If stands fall below that mark, he recommends what he calls a repair plant, not a full reset.

“If it is under 60,000, just do a repair plant, which means you don’t start over from scratch,” he says. “You just go into that field, set the planter at an angle so as not to run over or disturb any of those existing growing plants, and then just plant into your existing stand.”

“The population that’s in the field right now has a higher yield potential than anything you’d be putting in the ground today,” he adds.

Consider Row Spacing

Row spacing is the one area where Conley does advise a change for mid-May and later planting — when farmers have the equipment to do it.

“As our yields have increased due to earlier planting, the yield difference between wide rows and narrow rows shrank,” he says. “However, as we get into lower yield potential — i.e., later planting — then we see those yield differences still remain.”

That shows up particularly in 30-inch rows planted in mid-May and later.

“The longer it takes from planting date to when those soybeans hit R3, the smaller the yield difference between row spacings,” he explains. “Because we’re delayed planting, the number of days between when you plant today and when you get to R3 is going to be in that 50- to 60-day range. You’re going to see a yield penalty if you stick with the 30-inch rows.”

“If you have the capacity — you still have a 15-inch row planter and you maybe haven’t been utilizing that — I think you need to be able to break that out and use that for finishing off your soybean planting,” he says.

Rethink Your Herbicide Strategy In High-Residue Systems

Wed, 13 May 2026 17:24:08 GMT

Waterhemp and other tough weeds are forcing farmers to rethink how they use herbicides in high-residue cropping systems, from heavy corn stalks to thick cereal rye covers.

Extension weed scientists say they increasingly hear from growers who did “everything right” with applying their preemergence products yet still see waterhemp push through and survive. Increasingly, one of the challenges is those fields carry a lot more residue than they used to.

“Every year, we have some situations where we get less than expected control of weeds for various reasons, and I’ve come around to appreciate the impact that residue can have on our success,” says Tom Peters, Extension agronomist and weed control specialist for North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota.

Oftentimes, the assumption has been that rainfall will wash herbicides off the residue and down into the soil, where they can do their job. Peters says that belief does not hold up in reality.

“I would argue that some of our performance challenges have been related to those herbicides sticking to the residues,” contends Peters, who made his comments during the 2026 Field Notes program.

That problem is on the increase as farmers are dialing back their tillage passes, planting into more corn and soybean residue and seeding more cover crops.

Reduction In Control Assessed

During graduate work with the University of Minnesota, Eric Yu, now a regional crops Extension educator, measured just how much product residue can intercept herbicides. In cover crop plots, he and his colleagues placed water-sensitive cards below cereal rye crops, applied a preemergence herbicide and then evaluated the results.

“We were seeing about a 50% reduction in the amount of product that reaches the soil compared to our control plots,” Yu says. “Yet despite that 50% reduction, we were seeing still significant weed control, specifically waterhemp control.”

The message, Yu says, is not that residue makes the use of pre products pointless. It is that farmers need to account for residue when they design their weed-control programs — and still keep a strong preemergence herbicide in the plan.

Peters agrees. Even when residue cuts the amount of product reaching the soil, pres are still the foundation of a good program, especially as waterhemp increases in resistance to postemergence herbicides.

“Start the season with pre products, observe your results and then decide what the best postemergence program is,” he advises.

For farmers managing crops in high-residue systems, Peters and Yu point to several practical steps:

Prioritize Soil Contact: Ensure herbicides are actually reaching the soil surface. In cases of extreme residue, it may be necessary to manage or move stalks and straw ahead of planting.
Adjust Product and Rate: Work with agronomists to select products and rates that can withstand some interception while still delivering enough active ingredient to the soil to be effective. Using full labeled rates is increasingly a best-practice solution for control and to reduce selection pressure for further herbicide resistance.
Tighten the Timing Window: Because residue can blunt the effectiveness of a pre product, escapes are more likely. Small waterhemp is much easier to control; once the weed reaches the 4- to 5-inch range, control becomes significantly more difficult.

Researchers Evaluate 21 Herbicides

A group of University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists recently studied which herbicides make it to the ground and provide residual waterhemp control in high-residue farming systems. The controlled-environment study evaluated 21 single-active-ingredient corn and/or soybean herbicides compatible with high-biomass cereal rye. Here are the results, courtesy of GROW/Take Action :

Corn herbicides identified as effective for waterhemp control and compatible with high-biomass cereal rye in this study included:

Acetochlor (Harness – Group 15)
Dimethenamid-P (Outlook – Group 15)
Pyroxasulfone (Zidua – Group 15)
S-metolachlor (Dual II Magnum – Group 15)
Atrazine (Group 5)*
Isoxaflutole (Balance Flexx – Group 27)
Mesotrione (Callisto – Group 27)

*waterhemp population used in this study is still susceptible to atrazine applied preemergence.

Soybean herbicides identified as effective for waterhemp control and compatible with high-biomass cereal rye in this study included:

Dimethenamid-P (Outlook – Group 15)
Pyroxasulfone (Zidua – Group 15)
S-metolachlor (Dual II Magnum – Group 15)
Flumioxazin (Valor – Group 14)
Fomesafen (Flexstar – Group 14)
Metribuzin (Group 5)

The Wisconsin researchers say soybean growers should pay close attention to application timing restrictions. Flumioxazin-containing products for instance must be applied within three days of soybean planting, while metribuzin must be applied prior to soybean emergence. The remaining soybean herbicides listed above can be applied preemergence or early postemergence, offering flexibility for growers who plant early and delay cereal rye termination until after soybean emergence.

A standard program in planting green systems where the cereal rye is terminated after soybean emergence may include glyphosate for cereal rye termination, combined with soil residual herbicides fomesafen plus a Group 15 herbicide (e.g., pyroxasulfone, S-metolachlor, or dimethenamid-P) and a Group 2 herbicide such as imazethapyr (Pursuit), cloransulam (FirstRate), or chlorimuron (Classic) for broad spectrum weed control.

Corteva Launches New Fungicide For Sugarbeets

Wed, 13 May 2026 13:30:39 GMT

Corteva Agriscience announced Wednesday the U.S. launch of Verpixo fungicide, a new tool designed to combat Cercospora leaf spot (CLS) in sugarbeets.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has registered the product for the 2026 growing season. Verpixo features Adavelt active, which the EPA has designated as a reduced-risk chemistry.

New Mode of Action

Verpixo introduces a Fungicide Resistance Action Committee (FRAC) Group 21 mode of action to the sugarbeet market. Derived from a naturally occurring compound in soil bacteria, the fungicide offers broad-spectrum control and provides growers with increased application flexibility.

Cercospora leaf spot is considered the most economically damaging fungal disease for the U.S. sugarbeet industry. According to the Beet Sugar Development Foundation, the disease could have caused more than $900 million in economic losses during the 2024 production year if left unmanaged.

“Extensive lab and in-field testing confirm the efficacy of Verpixo fungicide with Adavelt active against CLS, which can cause up to 30% annual yield loss,” says Colleen Kent, specialty crops portfolio marketing lead with Corteva, in a press release.

Combating Resistance

The disease is characterized by brown spots on leaves that inhibit a plant’s ability to photosynthesize, directly reducing sugar content and root weight. Because CLS is polycyclic—meaning it can produce spores multiple times in a single season—ongoing management is required.

Current fungicides and some genetic traits have seen a decline in efficacy due to resistance. Verpixo uses translaminar movement to protect both the top and bottom of leaf surfaces.

“Verpixo fungicide with Adavelt active has no known resistance, making it ideally suited for resistance management programs,” Kent reports.

Environmental Impact

Corteva stated that the product’s natural origin and environmental profile are compatible with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs, allowing beneficial insects to thrive while controlling the fungal pathogen.

The fungicide is now available for use in the 2026 season and is compatible with standard tank-mix practices.

Why High GDUs Aren’t Guaranteeing Quick Emergence This Year

Tue, 12 May 2026 20:35:00 GMT

While farmers keep a close eye on the thermometer and their favorite weather app during planting season, Phil Long says the most important metric right now might be the one they can’t see: the temperature beneath the soil surface.

Long, a regional agronomist with Liqui-Grow, says growers in north-central Iowa are reporting sluggish emergence for corn and soybeans. That’s despite the fact the region accumulated roughly 197 Growing Degree Units (GDUs) from April 10 to May 1, outpacing the 30-year average of 121 GDUs.

“It takes about 130 or so GDUs to get corn or beans out of the ground,” says Iowa-based Long. “So why aren’t more crops emerged?”

The discrepancy, he contends, lies in the difference between air GDUs and soil GDUs. While air temperatures are important, seed reacts almost totally to the heat of the soil surrounding it. For a seed to germinate and push through the soil surface, it requires consistent warmth that hasn’t materialized during recent chilly conditions in some areas.

“What’s most important to the corn and beans out there in the ground is soil GDUs,” Long says. “Even corn up to V6 is regulated primarily off the heat in the ground.”

Why Some Crops Have ‘Just Sat There’

The formula for calculating GDUs relies on a base temperature of 50 degrees Fahrenheit and a ceiling of 86 degrees. When nighttime temperatures dip into the 30s, as they have recently in Iowa and parts of the Eastern Corn Belt, the soil temperature can linger in the 40s and 50s. At those levels, the “heat engine” for the seed essentially stalls.

“We’re not getting that soil temperature up there very far,” Long explains. “That does not stack up GDUs very quickly.”

Long notes that along with the chilly weather conditions, two additional factors can act as “buffers” against soil warming: crop residue and cloud cover.

While heavy residue is often a benefit in the heat of July, it can act as an insulator in the spring, preventing the sun from reaching the soil. In some cases, high-residue fields can see a 50% reduction in GDU accumulation compared to conventionally tilled ground, Long notes.

Furthermore, a stretch of overcast days will rob the soil of solar radiation.

“If there’s heavy cloud cover, that can reduce solar radiation by 80%,” Long says. He explains that even on a cool 55-degree day, direct sunlight can push soil temperatures much higher. But persistent clouds have kept the ground locked in a cool cycle.

As planting continues into the heart of May, Long advises farmers to look beyond the air temperature and keep in mind the micro-climate of the seedbed as they plant.

“Although we’re ahead in terms of air temperature GDUs for this year compared to the ‘average’ year, we’re probably behind in terms of those seeds sitting in the ground,” Long says. “That soil GDU is a big factor when it comes to getting crops out of the ground.”

Colorado’s Biggest Snow in 1,100 Days Raises a Bigger Question: Is the Plains Pattern Finally Changing?

Mon, 11 May 2026 17:31:39 GMT

After one of the driest stretches in recent memory, parts of Colorado finally caught a meaningful shot of moisture this week , and for many farmers and ranchers, it felt long overdue.

A spring snowstorm dropped more than a half foot of snow across portions of eastern Colorado, bringing measurable relief to drought-stricken areas that have spent months watching systems miss them to the north or south.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, roughly five million Colorado residents remain in drought conditions, with drought coverage increasing nearly 8% from the previous week. But for producers who finally saw gauges fill and snow pile up, the storm offered something equally valuable: optimism.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows 60% of the U.S. is experiencing drought, up from 44% just three months prior.

(U.S. Drought Monitor )

Near Keenesburg, Colorado, farmer Mark Arnusch reported approximately six inches of snowfall after receiving about a half inch of rain before temperatures turned colder. By his measurement, it was the largest single storm event his farm has experienced in nearly 1,100 days.

That statistic alone underscores how unusual the recent dryness has been across the western Plains.

The Winter That Wasn’t Across the West and Plains

Meteorologist Brian Bledsoe, based in Colorado, says many areas have endured a winter that barely resembled winter at all.

“We’ve only had about 12 minutes of winter this year,” Bledsoe says after measuring 7.5 inches of snow at his home south of Denver in Castle Rock.

Bledsoe says he spoke with Arnish about the timing of the storm and realized the last comparable moisture event occurred during another major climate transition.

“He was telling me the date that he last saw that moisture — May 12th, May 13th of 2023 — and ironically enough that was the last time we did this whole La Niña to El Niño switch,” Bledsoe says.

Now, Bledsoe says another atmospheric transition may be developing, one that could eventually favor better precipitation opportunities across the Plains.

Pattern Shift Could Bring Better Rain Chances to the Plains

Through mid-May, upper-level weather patterns still favor ridging in the West and troughing farther east, a setup that typically limits widespread moisture across the central United States.

“This has been kind of a more March-like pattern,” Bledsoe says. “But the precipitation anomalies associated with this pattern are not that conducive to moisture in the middle part of the country.”

In the short term, Bledsoe says many areas of the Plains could remain drier than average through at least the middle of May.

However, forecast models suggest a notable shift later in the month.

“We have upper-level ridging moving east over the middle part of the country and the Midwest and a trough of low pressure out along the California coast,” Bledsoe says. “This traditionally means more active weather coming back to the Plains.”

That evolving setup could increase thunderstorm activity and improve rainfall opportunities from the western Plains into parts of Texas.

“We are going to start to see the Plains wake up,” Bledsoe says. “Not only with better rain chances, but also more chances for severe thunderstorms during that period of time.”

Seasonal Models Lean Wetter for the Western Plains

While seasonal forecasts always carry uncertainty, several major long-range models are beginning to align around a similar signal: the western Plains may trend wetter this summer.

Bledsoe says the latest European seasonal model for June through August favors above-normal precipitation across the western High Plains, portions of the Intermountain West and parts of the Southeast.

“You can’t derive a ton from these models, but you can pick up some signals,” Bledsoe says.

The North American Multi-Model Ensemble and Canadian seasonal guidance also point toward improved moisture potential farther west, without signaling widespread drought expansion across the middle of the country.

Bledsoe says historical analog years support the same general idea.

“If we do a little digging in terms of history and look at these analog years — 1957, 1965, 1972, 1982, 1991 and others, those precipitation anomalies also favor areas farther west,” he says.

That does not mean every region benefits equally.

Bledsoe says portions of central and southeast Texas could still trend drier, while some areas of the Midwest may continue to see uneven rainfall distribution.

Still, for producers in Colorado, western Kansas, eastern New Mexico and nearby areas, the recent storm may be an early indication that a more active moisture pattern is finally developing.

Relief Arrives at a Critical Time

The timing, though, matters.Many winter wheat acres across the western Plains entered spring under significant moisture stress, while ranchers have continued battling poor pasture conditions and limited stock water supplies.

One storm will not erase long-term drought concerns. Subsoil moisture deficits remain significant across many areas, and producers know meaningful recovery requires repeated events over time.

But after nearly three years without a storm of this magnitude in parts of eastern Colorado, the latest snowfall delivered a reminder of how quickly conditions can shift when atmospheric patterns cooperate.

“Some rain coming back to the Plains, especially the western Plains, would certainly be a good start,” Bledsoe says.

The next several weeks will determine whether this storm was simply an isolated event — or the first sign of a broader weather turnaround for the Plains.

Oregon Farmers Navigate The Ups And Downs Of A Changing Ag Landscape

Wed, 06 May 2026 22:05:35 GMT

Helle and Bruce Ruddenklau make almost every agronomic move on their Willamette Valley, Oregon, farm with their balance sheet in mind. Crop rotations, contracts and niche markets are the core tools they use to maneuver through and survive today’s costly inputs and soft crop prices.

The couple farm about 1,100 acres near Amity, Ore. They own a third of the ground and rent the rest.

About half the acres are in commercial grass seed — perennial ryegrass and fescue for lawns, golf courses, sports fields and parks. The rest of their acreage cycles through wheat, an oilseed called Meadowfoam (highly sought after in cosmetics, skincare products, and specialty industrial applications), green beans, occasional sweet corn and peas, radish seed for export to Japan, clover seed and hazelnuts.

The crop diversity is critical. It helps even out the economic ups and downs of farming, and it also helps address a problem the couple didn’t even know they had initially in the 1990s: herbicide-resistant grass weeds, a challenge exacerbated by the fact they produce commercial grass seed.

“We had to come up with a different way of fighting some of these grassy weeds without chemistry, and that was through rotation. And no-till was the other big, big thing,” Helle recalls.

In the late 1990s, the couple invested in a no-till drill and redesigned their rotation.

“The (commercial) grass seeds stay in for two to four years, and when they come out, we have at least two years of other crops in those fields so we can get new chemical applications on, try to rotate and get on top of any grassy weeds that may have built up,” Helle tells Andrew McCrea during a recent episode of Farming The Countryside , available on Farm Journal TV.

Focused On Crop Diversity To Create Income

Crop rotation is a framework for stacking income streams. Every crop has to pull its weight against rising fertilizer and fuel costs.

“As with all farmers, our input costs are higher than what they have been. That’s been a huge challenge. Everybody here’s trying to find something that’s more profitable to grow,” she says, adding that she believes Midwest farmers have an even harder time generating ROI.

Grass seed has delivered strong margins at times, but COVID-era demand whipsawed the market. A surge in lawn and turf projects sent prices sharply higher in 2020. Seed companies then pushed acres. A couple of variable years later, and the industry became awash in seed.

“We’re still working through that oversupply from three years ago or so,” Helle says. “Our price has dropped in half, basically, from what it was.”

With prices cut and input costs elevated, some growers are rolling the dice and producing grass seed on speculation.

“You have the option to grow grass seed without a contract, and then you have it on the open market,” she says. “If there’s a market for it, you can sell it. If not, you just sit with [it] in the barn and wait.”

The Ruddenklaus work hard to avoid being in that position, growing most everything under contract.

“We have one field that we have an open market Kentucky 31 variety on. But other than that, everything we grow is under contract on both the grass seed, specialty crops, hazelnuts, vegetables, everything.”

Relationships Play An Important Role In Farming

That contract-first mindset shapes what they plant and who they do business with.

“A lot of it is relationships with different dealers… that we know they will treat us fairly, and they know that we will produce a quality product for them,” she says.

Those relationships open doors to new niche markets that fit within their existing rotation.

“A few years ago, a local economic development company came to us and said a local soy sauce manufacturer was looking to have some local production of hard red spring wheat,” she recalls. “Oregon traditionally grows soft white wheat, so it’s not something we had worked with in the past, but we decided to try it, and that’s become a very valuable little niche market for us that has worked out well.”

Through that same connection, the farm links with AgLaunch, a Tennessee-based network that brings farmers and ag tech startups together.

“The companies come in [and] want to get the support of the farmers, the advice, the on-farm trials,” she says. “In exchange, they have to give up some equity to the farmers’ network. So through that, we also are getting exposure to some new companies and potentially new opportunities. We are definitely always looking at things.”

Some experiments — like trying grain corn and soybeans — have not become permanent fixtures on the farm. But even those tests help the Ruddenklaus calibrate where their competitive edge really lies: in specialty crops backed by contracts and rotations that help them manage weeds and other risks at the same time.

“I think agriculture has an amazing, amazing story. Farmers are innovators, and that’s just part of what we have done through generations,” Helle says.

“I’m not pessimistic about where we’re at,” she adds. “I believe agriculture has a bright, bright future. We belong in society. We have an important role to play. It won’t look the same as it has in the past, but we’ll figure it out.”

Helle was the recipient of the Top Producer 2026 Woman in Agriculture award . The award was sponsored by ProFarmer.

Know someone you would like to nominate for the Top Producer Woman In Agriculture? Nominations are open! Recommend your candidate here .

Metabolic Weed Resistance Crisis Builds Across The Heartland

Wed, 06 May 2026 16:50:37 GMT

Waterhemp, Palmer amaranth and some other tough broadleaf weeds and grasses are no longer slipping past just single herbicides. Across the Corn Belt and beyond, they are tolerating entire herbicide programs. Weed scientists say that pattern points to a critical issue more farmers are facing: metabolic resistance.

Unlike traditional target-site resistance, which is often specific to a single herbicide class, metabolic resistance is even worse because it can confer cross-resistance to multiple, unrelated herbicide groups .

Aaron Hager, University of Illinois Extension weed scientist often warns that when a tough weed like waterhemp learns to metabolize one herbicide, it becomes easier for it to “learn” to detoxify others. That ability has helped lead to the 7-way resistance with waterhemp seen in some Illinois counties, according to weed scientist Patrick Tranel, one of Hager’s colleagues.

At least 13 states have reported having some degree of “highly suspected” or confirmed cases of metabolic weed resistance. Here are three of the broadleaf weeds demonstrating metabolic resistance and states where they’re located:

Along with these broadleaf weeds, some common and giant ragweed, marestail/horseweed, annual (Italian) ryegrass and barnyardgrass populations have also demonstrated metabolic resistance.

(Weed Science Society of America, GROW, BASF, Syngenta)

Target-site resistance can be identified through DNA tests. But metabolic resistance is a “guessing game” involving potentially dozens to hundreds of genes working in tandem, making it difficult for scientists and farmers to know which products will still work in their specific fields.

Tommy Butts sees the trend for metabolic resistance taking root in Indiana. He says HPPD resistance in waterhemp is “getting widespread,” and the failures are expanding to other chemistries as well.

“We had more complaints last year about things like mesotrione or Callisto starting to fail, which is really scary in the corn acres,” says Butts, Purdue University Extension weed scientist. “Corn is supposed to be our easy year to control waterhemp, and now, all of a sudden, we start losing Callisto.” He addresses this in detail in the latest Purdue Crop Chat .

The bad news does not stop there.

“You start talking auxins and glufosinate, and we have confirmed resistance in the state to those,” he says. “I wouldn’t say that’s as widespread, but it’s definitely popping up.”

With metabolic resistance chipping away at PPOs, HPPDs, atrazine partners, auxins and glufosinate, the old playbook of “just switch products” no longer works well.

Glufosinate alone 😀⁰Mesotrione alone 😕⁰Glufosinate + mesotrione 🔥😎

That’s the power of effective herbicide tank mixtures.

Deploying synergistic tank mixes with multiple effective sites of action is critical for improving weed control and helping delay herbicide resistance… pic.twitter.com/FggZJrQQ1Q
— Rodrigo Werle (@WiscWeeds) May 6, 2026

“Hammer With Residuals” And Build Effective Combinations

Butts’ first message to corn and soybean farmers is straightforward: no more solo herbicide passes in the field.

“We have to hammer weeds with effective residuals and then mix up our posts as much as possible,” he says.

In his view, that means at least two things for row-crop growers. First, use layered residual programs that keep fields clean as long as possible and reduce the number of emerged weeds that ever see a post pass. Second, use post-emerge applications that combine multiple, truly effective modes of action at full labeled rates.

Cutting rates, he warns, is exactly how growers “train” metabolism-based resistance to take root.

With soybean trait systems, he pushes hard against relying on a single flagship product.

“If we’re growing Enlist soybeans, don’t just rely on Enlist and don’t just rely on Liberty,” Butts advises. “Do the tank mix. The tank mix trumps everything.”

This field shows the result of waterhemp seeds that were spread during harvest by a combine.

(Aaron Hager, University of Illinois)

Pay More Up Front To Avoid Making Expensive “Revenge Sprays”

Metabolic resistance can thrive when weeds are hit with chemistry they can partially tolerate. That is why Butts keeps coming back to strong, early, soil-applied programs.

He hears pushback from farmers every year on using multiple products in the tank.

“A lot of people tell me, ‘Well, it costs way too much up front with $20 for a pre. Corn gets even more expensive,’” he acknowledges.
However, Butts points to work by Purdue University Extension and other states showing those dollars pay off when the entire season is measured.

“If you can get a strong residual program out and get it activated, the whole-season economics of it makes sense,” Butts says. “It’s consistently shown that if you have that strong pre up front, you don’t have what I like to call the revenge sprays in August, where we’re going across the field three different times trying to kill waist-high waterhemp.”

Check out this tool from GROW on how to address waterhemp specifically.

Protect Herbicide Tools To Extend Their Use

As more herbicide modes of action come under pressure, Butts singles out metribuzin as an example of a product that still pulls its weight in soybeans.

“Metribuzin is a big one in soybeans, because we don’t have a lot of resistance to that,” he says.

“I will also put in the plug for AMS in general, across the board,” Butts says. “That always helps with some of those products… when we start getting later in the season, we get more stressed weeds. AMS even tends to help there.”

Butts does caution farmers that AMS is not allowed in dicamba tank mixes for XtendFlex soybeans.

Underlying all of it is a blunt warning about what happens if growers decide to skimp on their weed control efforts.

“If you let it go even one year, now you’ve made yourself a mess for the next five to 10 years,” he says. “You’ve got to try and stay on top of weeds as much as possible.”

5 Practical Recommendations To Address Metabolic Resistance

Because metabolic resistance is so unpredictable, weed scientists have shifted their advice away from “rotating chemicals” toward a “zero-threshold” approach to control. The following metabolic resistance management recommendations have been presented by Aaron Hager, University of Illinois Weed Scientist, and Beck’s agronomists:

1. The primary focus of metabolic resistance management should be on decreasing the weed seed bank. This means that weeds must be eliminated before they ever go to seed.

2. A robust residual herbicide program should be used, not because residuals represent a different herbicide family but because they eliminate weeds at the earliest growth stages – slashing contributions to the weed seed bank.

3. Physically cutting weeds out of the crop must be included in the management plan, because physical elimination of weed escapes further slashes contributions to the weed seed bank.

4. Post-herbicide programs should shift from calendar-based timing to scouting-based timing. Once weeds break through a pre-emerge residual program, they must be eliminated. Such early targeting further slashes contributions to the weed seed bank.

5. Mechanical techniques, field cultivators, etc., should be used where possible to further the cause of decreased seed production.

Can Biologicals Fill The Gap From Reduced Fertilizer Use?

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 19:55:50 GMT

As thin margins and high fertilizer costs squeeze budgets, many corn and soybean growers are asking a hard question this spring: can biological products help out and pay their way in the field?

The answer depends on the goal, according to Connor Sible, University of Illinois field researcher and associate professor.

“Is the goal to get more out of what we’re already doing, enhance the yield in an already pretty intensive, progressive system?” he asks. “Or, are we trying to reduce inputs and then make up for that by maintaining yields with a biological?”

Sible studies high-yield corn and soybean systems and has spent years looking at how biologicals fit into real-world management. He says profitability hinges on getting a biological and a farming system to match. He offers two trains of thought on reaching a return-on-investment (ROI).

1. The Yield Response: Achieving a direct yield increase to offset the product cost.
2. The Efficiency Response: Improving nutrient uptake to maintain yields while reducing traditional inputs.

That framework for biological use underpinned the discussion during an Illinois Soybean Growers webinar on Tuesday: “Stretching Every Pound: Using Biologicals to Maximize Fertility During Input Shortages.” The program was hosted by the University of Illinois and Valent Biosciences.

Drew Harmon, Valent technical agronomist, provided an overview of row-crop farmers’ persistent struggles with accessing and covering the cost of fertilizer going into the 2026 season. He referenced recent American Farm Bureau and Bushel surveys showing the struggle underway across the Corn Belt and how the strain on farmers is changing their behavior.

(AFBF)

Nearly one-third of farmers Bushel surveyed said they will be doing more to manage costs and inputs this season.

(Bushel, Valent BioSciences)

“A lot of people are considering cutting their fertilizer by about 25%,” Harmon says. He reports that on his own farm, where soil tests are “on the higher end of a maintenance plan,” he and his tenant “decided to cut back our P and K by about a third this year.”

Cutting back fertilizer raises a practical question: how do crops still access enough nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) to perform and meet yield expectations?

One potential answer, Harmon and Sible say, is to use arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, or AMF, especially where phosphorus rates are being reduced.

Harmon explains that mycorrhizal fungi are essentially a beneficial relationship that the fungi have with a host crop such as corn or soybeans. The root system supplies carbon through root exudates and, “in return for that carbon, the mycorrhizal fungi exchange nutrients and water.”

Applied as a seed treatment or in-furrow, AMF spores germinate in response to root exudates and colonize roots, then spread out as fine hyphae – branching, thread-like filaments – through the soil. That network effectively enlarges the rooting zone.

“Utilizing the mycorrhizal hyphae can expand the amount of surface area that [the crop] has to interact with, and it can expand that area by upwards of 50%,” Harmon says. “What that does is increase the opportunities for P and K uptake through diffusion, and it also allows greater access to soil water.”

In fields with lighter soils or facing recurring drought stress, that extended reach can be important. Even as much of the Midwest moves out of formal drought classification, according to the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor, Harmon notes that “we still can get those stretches of heat stress or stretches of flash drought… where we can see strain on our plants for needing water.”

Harmon also lays out an economic example for a typical two-year corn–soybean rotation under a biennial maintenance plan for phosphorus and potassium.

Using removal rates, yield estimates and recent DAP and potash prices, he calculates that a 25% reduction in P and K could offer “savings of mid-$40-ish per acre over a two-year period.”

The cost of using AMF in that scenario, he says, is about $6 per crop or just under $13 per acre over two years.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi are essentially a beneficial relationship that the fungi have with a host crop such as corn or soybeans. The root system supplies carbon through root exudates and, “in return for that carbon, the mycorrhizal fungi exchange nutrients and water,” according to Drew Harmon, technical services representative for Valent Biosciences.

(Valent)

“AMF can be a potentially economical tool that could help increase nutrient uptake efficiency for the P and K that we’re reducing,” Harmon says, “while still protecting yield and preserving the majority of the fertilizer savings that you were looking to do.”

Harmon and Sible emphasize, however, that biologicals are not replacements for good agronomy—or for basic fertility.

“I don’t know a biological today that will fix a pH,” Sible says, as a for instance. “If we have a pH issue in the system, we probably need to resolve that before we go looking at new practices.”

A similar principle applies to nitrogen. Sible says nitrogen-fixing products can be useful as “a third source” of N, but they do not remove the need for a sound base rate.

“We often see an early-season biomass bump and higher kernel number potential [resulting from the biological product],” he says.

But to turn that into yield, the corn plant must have the nutrient resources to fill ears, which means adequate nitrogen and in-season management such as late fungicide use and/or supplemental nutrients.

For many farmers, another option this season for consideration is organic acids. Such products are positioned as biostimulants that support nutrient use efficiency, improve stress tolerance, and contribute to early growth.

Across both AMF and organic acids, Sible reminds growers that many biologicals are living tools, whether bacteria or fungi, and must be managed that way.

“A happy plant probably indicates happy microbes. Just like we need good conditions for plant growth, we need good conditions for microbial growth,” he says. “Plants need water, microbes need water. Plants need nutrients, microbes need nutrients.”
Harmon offers a similar caution on having the right set of expectations for using a biological.

“These products are not silver bullets,” he says. “They’re not fertilizer. They’re not going to [deliver] crazy amounts of yields. The majority of time you’re seeing it [improve] somewhere around 5% to 7% if you do see a biological response.”

Canadian Farmers Look For A Fresh Start After The Driest Year In Decades

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:47:21 GMT

The way Tim Webster tells it, his 2025 cropping season was nearly a disaster. Summer delivered the lowest July–August rainfall his area had seen in 50 years. That lack and abnormally high temperatures pushed corn and soybeans to their limits.

“We had just enough moisture to get to the finish line,” recalls Webster, a sixth-generation farmer based just west of Lindsay, Ontario, Canada. The end result: corn and soybean yields came in at about half of normal.

Webster and fellow farmer Steve Crothers, who farms on the north shore of Lake Ontario about 50 miles east of Toronto, recently sat down with Illinois-based Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie to talk about how they’re adjusting cropping plans for 2026 after last year’s drought.

Drought Reshapes Farmer Expectations

For Webster, last season was a stark reminder of how quickly yield potential can evaporate. Ultimately, Webster’s bottom line took a hit.

“We’re hoping that doesn’t repeat again,” he told Ferrie.

Crothers’ experience, though slightly better, was still defined by drought. Growing corn, soybeans, wheat and edible beans along Lake Ontario, he says it was the driest of his 40-plus years in farming.

“We had a couple half-inch rains, so we kind of ended up with three-quarters of our long-term average yield. So, we fared a little bit better,” Crothers says.

Still, the season left him and Webster concerned about their cropping plans and finances for this year.

Crop Insurance As A Lifeline

Ferrie drew a comparison between Canadian and American safety nets as he listened to Crothers and Webster describe their experiences. In the U.S., Ferrie notes farmers often lean on multiple levels of crop insurance to blunt losses in a bad production year. He asked whether similar options exist for Canadian farmers.

Webster replied that growers there do have a provincial crop insurance program, but participation and coverage levels vary.
“I think we all felt after last year, maybe we should have been insured a little higher. But we were very happy to have what we had to help pay the bills, that’s for sure,” Webster notes.

Crothers says specialty crops, including edible white beans and adzuki beans, come under similar insurance frameworks as corn and soybeans, though they have higher premiums because of their higher value.

Most of the white beans grown in his part of Ontario head to the United Kingdom, while the adzuki beans (also called mung beans) are shipped to Japan, Crothers notes. Those export markets add another layer of risk to already weather-sensitive crops, making insurance an important backstop when weather or markets turn against them.

Fertilizer Sticker Shock Hits Canadian Growers

If drought defined 2025, fertilizer prices loom large over this season for Canadian farmers, much like they do for U.S. farmers.

“For 2026 our biggest thing is hope — hope for typical average rainfalls after last year’s drought,” Crothers says. “And then, of course, the economic challenges with the fertilizer situation are obviously troubling to everybody.”

He tells Ferrie most fertilizer in his part of Ontario is not prepaid “The fellows using 28% are usually prepaid, because it’s been hard to get the last few years. But generally, not near as much fertilizer is prepaid as what, in a perfect world, would have been.” Crothers reports.

That leaves many Canadian farmers more exposed to potential sticker shock as they head into spring planting.

Webster says he pre-bought some of his nitrogen (N) in February and is now leaning hard into a strategy of splitting applications and dialing back on more expensive, slow-release N options where he can.

This year, for his wheat topdress program, fertility costs didn’t pencil out, forcing a change in his plans.

“It’s $32 more [per acre] to go with the time-release product versus straight urea,” Webster notes. “So, I think on our wheat this year we’re going to do a lot of split applications.”

With diesel, fertilizer and other costs trending higher, he says, “anything you can do to save small increments adds up … for the whole operation.”

Cropping Plans: Adjust Or Stay The Course?

Both farmers describe their region as an area where crop rotations remain fairly consistent: corn, soybeans and wheat typically share the mix. Asked whether high input prices and drought fears would drive large acreage shifts this season, Webster says his own operation plans to stay the course with its rotation, helped by a marketing strategy that spreads grain sales out over time to manage risk and meet mortgage payments.

Still, he’s aware some of his neighbors are recalibrating their cropping plans.

“I know some guys are going to go less corn, more beans — just less dollars to put it in,” Webster notes. “Maybe the profits aren’t as high, but there’s less risk involved.”

Ferrie notes that, similar to Ontario, many U.S. growers also appear to be largely holding to their established crop plans, as their major fertilizer and seed commitments were already made before input costs soared.

In a region still feeling the effects of the driest season in decades, both Webster and Crothers are essentially betting on a return to something closer to normal this season — average rains, manageable input costs and no repeat of last year’s extremes.

“If we get good yields, then we can deal with those [costs],” Crothers says. “But another weather year like last year would definitely be a struggle for a lot of people.”

Crothers and Webster spoke with Ferrie during a meeting hosted by the Durham Soil and Crop Association, a grassroots group that works under Ontario’s agricultural umbrella to bring new ideas, funding opportunities and conservation programs to farmers in the region.

You can catch the entire conversation between Ferrie, Crothers and Webster on this week’s Boots In The Field podcast, available below.

Maryland Farmer Turns Stringent Fertilizer Restrictions Into An Opportunity To Innovate

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:13:18 GMT

On the Delmarva Peninsula, where every pound of fertilizer applied is regulated, Maryland farmer Temple Rhodes is rebuilding his corn production system from the ground up — literally.

“We are in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, so all eyes are on us,” Rhodes says. “I am 50 miles from Baltimore, 50 miles from D.C., 67 miles from Philadelphia. We are in a hotbed of regulation.”

For the past 25-plus years, Chestnut Manor Farms has operated under a state-mandated nutrient management plan that caps how much nitrogen and phosphorus can be applied. Rhodes says participating in the program is not voluntary.

“It is forced on us with no incentive. You just have to do it,” he says. “So, we have to reinvent ourselves. We have to start looking at other ways to do things.”

Rhodes grows corn, soybeans and wheat, along with a few acres of grain sorghum. He also runs a cow-calf operation and backgrounds a couple hundred head of steers each winter on cover crops. The diversity helps, but the real transformation is happening in how he feeds his 1,700-acre corn crop.

From Front-Loading To Spoon-Feeding

For years, the standard practice was to front-load fertilizer before planting and hope enough stayed in place through the growing season. Under tighter rules and scrutiny, Rhodes says that approach no longer works.

“We used to put 100% of our nitrogen up front, then plant a crop on it and expect it to be there all along,” he says. “That is where we find out we are making a mistake. We are limited in how much fertility we can put on, so we better get it on at the right time, in the right place, or we are going to run out.”

Today, Chestnut Manor relies on what Rhodes describes as a systematic, layered approach that can include planter-applied fertilizer (in-furrow and 2x2 programs), split in-season applications of nitrogen, extensive cover crops and biologicals.

“When you take a systematic approach to all these things, it becomes a different animal,” Rhodes says.

Most of his corn is grown using a strip-till system with strips built in the spring. State rules prevent him from applying fertilizer in the fall, so he must work ahead of the planter using modest rates of nitrogen and then follow up with in-season applications.

“My end goal is to grow 225 bushels per acre,” he says. “I am going to put about 0.7 pounds of nitrogen per bushel on my crop. I can get away with that if I spoon-feed it correctly. If I put it all down up front, I am going to need about 1.25 pounds. I’m saving a lot of fertility by doing it this way.”

Rhodes says Maryland’s regulatory framework ensures he stays within strict application limits. The state’s phosphorus usage tool combines soil samples, yield history, location and soil type into an algorithm that dictates what farmers can apply.

“You put your soil samples in, you put your yield goal in, and it spits out what you can put on,” Rhodes says. “If you say your yield goal is 250 bushels but your APH is only 180, that is not how it works. Your APH and your yield goal have to be very similar, or you are not going to get to put on what you want. They are going to tell you what you can put on. Period.”

A New Technology Takes Root

Working under those constraints, Rhodes has become aggressive about testing new technologies that promise better nutrient efficiency and stronger root systems. Not one to be painted into a corner, Rhodes stays open to all ideas of what could work within the state’s mandated parameters. One of those is a biostimuant from NewLeaf Symbiotics.

The product is a non-GMO, naturally occurring bacteria known as PPFMs (Pink-Pigmented Facultative Methylotrophs), often called “M-trophs”. The PPFM-powered biostimulant is designed to improve crop yield, nutrient uptake, and stress tolerance, according to NewLeaf.

In the process of trialing the product, Rhodes shared the technology with XtremeAg, a group of seven farmers across the country who rigorously test new technologies in different environments.

“If we can test a product at multiple locations — a guy from Iowa, a guy from Maryland, a guy down South — and it works across everybody, that is big,” Rhodes says. “It is huge, because what works for me might not work for the guy in the Midwest. It all goes back to soil type and environment.”

Rhodes says what he was looking for from the biostimulant was stress mitigation and nutrient scavenging that can improve his current foundation for the future.

“I need a massive root system that can go out and get more nutrients, because I am limited on how many nutrients I can put on,” he says. “If I build a plant that scavenges more, that is a home run for us.”

Cutting Irrigation And Boosting Biomass

Rhodes farms a mix of acres, with about 25% irrigated and 75% dryland. After the first year of trialing the NewLeaf technology he found he didn’t need to run his irrigation system as frequently.

“The root system and the plant that it makes, I do not have anywhere near the stress,” he says. “When it’s hot and dry we would normally run the irrigation system, but I found I do not need to put on as much water.”

With irrigation costing about $125 per acre, every pass he eliminates adds up to a significant savings.

“If I make 12 passes a year, I can save $10 an acre just by not turning it on one time,” he says.

Beyond water savings, Rhodes estimates he is getting 30% more biomass in the plants.

“We actually cut corn stalks off at the ground and weighed them. We did not even measure the roots — just the plant itself. Thirty percent more biomass than my grower standard practice,” he says.

The biomass offers a payoff for grain production and nutrients for his cattle operation.

“I chop silage, so if I can add 30% more, that is 30% fewer acres I need to chop,” he reports. “It costs me by the acre, so 30% less is massive. And the nutrients in that plant are higher than in my grower standard practice. It all follows each other.”

Learning Curve And Next Steps

While the product delivers more biomass and higher yields, it did create new management challenges. Rhodes discovered the downside of building a much bigger plant on a tight nitrogen budget.

“In my system, I put about 30% of my nitrogen needs down with my strip till. I plant on top of it, everything looks great, it makes this massive system — and then I end up running out of nitrogen later in the season,” he recalls.

He spotted the problem at harvest, with many ears showing considerable tip-back of an inch or two. Rhodes figures the crop just “outran” his nitrogen program. Even so, the fields containing the experimental treatment still out-yielded his standard fields by an average of 11 bushels per acre.

The experience pushed him to rethink nitrogen application timing and total rate.

“I’m pulling some of the front-end nitrogen out and putting it into reproduction, so I do not run out at the end,” he says. “Instead of 0.7 pounds per bushel, maybe I can go to 0.8 or 0.9, maybe even one-to-one, and still be efficient because of what this product is doing.”

The results from the past two years of field testing are strong enough that Rhodes is no longer treating the technology as a small trial.
“We plant about 1,700 acres of corn, so it’s going on every acre of corn,” he says.

On a tightly regulated farm in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Rhodes is betting that bigger roots, smarter fertilizer use and careful experimentation with nutrients will keep his operation profitable — all while staying within the rules.

Why Your Herbicide Can Fail Even if You Follow the Label

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 18:35:29 GMT

When weeds break through your herbicide, it’s easy to blame the product, rate or application timing. However, weed-control experts Greg Dahl and Joe Ikley suggest the real culprits might be something else altogether: the water in the tank and the adjuvant — or lack thereof — mixed into it.

Dahl, a retired research manager at WinField United, says hard data tells the story best. After reviewing thousands of university trials, he found
that skipping the herbicide’s required adjuvant is an invitation for weed-control failure.

“We saw a 30% to 90% reduction in weed control when the adjuvant was left out,” Dahl says. “That’s a pretty big sting.”

But simply using an adjuvant isn’t enough. The trials showed that using the wrong class of adjuvant in the tank can slash performance by up to 50%. Even settling for a “good enough” product over a premium version can result in a 25% drop in efficacy. Notes Dahl: In the world of weed control, “close enough” often isn’t.

(Council of Producers & Distributors of Agrotechnology)

Solutions That Work

Hard water in the spray tank is often a contributor to poor weed control. When spray water is loaded with calcium and magnesium cations, that can create a hostile environment for weak-acid herbicides like glyphosate. These minerals physically bind to the herbicide, forming particles the plant cannot absorb.

“Plants don’t eat rocks,” says Ikley, a weed specialist at North Dakota State University Extension.

To counter this, he and Dahl recommend using ammonium sulfate (AMS) as a dedicated water conditioner. Dahl’s research indicates that in cases of extreme hardness, adding at least 8.5 lbs. of AMS per 100 gallons is necessary to fully neutralize the water and restore herbicide efficacy.

However, the battle isn’t just in the tank; it’s often on weed leaves. Ikley points out that certain weeds, like velvetleaf, actually secrete their own calcium crystals onto their leaf surfaces.

“Several of our weed species actually need higher AMS rates because of the crystals on the surface of that leaf,” Ikley explains. “We have to account for that interaction on the weed surface, not just in the water.”

While “all-in-one” adjuvant blends offer convenience, Ikley and Dahl urge caution. To hit a specific price point or fit multiple ingredients into the jug, manufacturers sometimes compromise on the water-conditioning component. University trials consistently show that very few “convenience” products can outperform the gold-standard combination of AMS plus a nonionic surfactant, Ikley and Dahl say.

Conditioners Aren’t All Created Equal

Dahl and Ikley both note that water conditioners and “all-in-one” adjuvants vary widely in performance. To get everything into a gallon and hit a certain price point, they say manufacturers sometimes compromise and come up short on one of the functions, often the one for water conditioning.

Ikley says university trials show only a handful of conditioners outperform the standard combination of AMS plus a nonionic surfactant.

“A few of the water conditioners do quite well,” he reports. “The rest don’t perform as well as AMS plus surfactant.”

Before they select or change the adjuvant used, Dahl and Ikley tell farmers to test their water, and ask the laboratory to report the results to them in parts per million.

“Some labs report in grains, and then you’ve got to do more math,” Dahl says.

Ikley adds a practical tip: always run the water for a few minutes before taking a sample to ensure you aren’t testing stagnant residue from the lines.

Ultimately, adjuvants are a valuable safety net for herbicide performance and weed control. As Dahl puts it, “You can raise herbicide rates until you can’t anymore. When you need help, the adjuvants can help.”

Cut Through The Biological Noise To Find Real ROI

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 21:03:28 GMT

Biologicals are booming across the agricultural landscape, propelled by a surge of new products and high-octane promises. Yet, when the invoice arrives, farmers are often left with this nagging question: Did I actually need that?

University of Illinois field researcher and assistant professor Connor Sible is on a mission to provide clarity. Drawing on a decade-plus of in-field study in corn and soybean systems, Sible offers a farmer-first filter to cut through the marketing noise. His research is helping growers determine where these tools offer a reliable return on investment — and where they fall flat.

“Start with your agronomy, then decide if a biological adds value on top,” he advises. “They’re not a shortcut around good fundamentals.”

One of the key reasons why farmers struggle to cut through the noise and identify which biological products will work for them results from the shear number of biological products in the marketplace. Another challenge is what this class of products is called. Academia and regulators use the term biostimulants. Ag media, companies and most farmers increasingly use the broader term biologicals.

The 2025 crop biostimulant list was capped at 450 companies. Sible notes that most companies offer multiple products, so if the chart were redrawn by product labels instead of company logos, it would “get out of control pretty quickly.” In his own review of just row-crop (corn, wheat, soy) products, he examined 155 products and found 139 unique microbial species used as active ingredients.

(Connor Sible Presentation)

The Baseline: Deliver on Fundamentals

For all the excitement surrounding biologicals, Sible encourages farmers to focus on unglamorous agronomic foundations first. He describes biologicals as next-step inputs; they can sharpen a high-performing cropping system, but they will not rescue one built on outdated practices.

“I do not know of a biostimulant or biological today that will fix your pH,” Sible says. “If you’ve got a soil pH issue, fix that first. Same with drainage, and same with using the same hybrid you’ve used for six years just because it’s still available.”

The Logistics: Is it Dead or Alive?

Once the fundamentals are solid, Sible says a practical next step is to consider whether a product is living or non-living.

Beneficial microbes — such as nitrogen-fixers, phosphorus-solubilizers, residue degraders, and many seed-applied inoculants — are alive. Many biostimulants — including humic and fulvic acids, certain enzymes, and kelp- or marine-based formulations — are not.

That distinction isn’t just academic; it determines whether a product has any chance of working by the time it reaches your field.

“If you’re buying something living, you’re buying a responsibility,” Sible says. “You have to keep it alive from delivery to application.”

He urges farmers to evaluate their shop conditions: Can you provide temperature stability? Is the product sitting against an uninsulated exterior wall? If the logistics of babysitting a living organism do not fit your management style, Sible suggests using only non-living biostimulants.

Nutrient Efficiency: Boosting Nitrogen

Few biological categories have generated as much buzz as nitrogen fixers. Sible’s work suggests they can play a role — but not the one many farmers might first imagine.

For a typical corn crop, about half the nitrogen comes from applied fertilizer and about half from soil organic matter and mineralization.

Biological N fixers are best thought of as a third source of nitrogen, he says, helping to cover shortfalls when fertilizer is lost or tied up, or soil mineralization doesn’t keep pace with crop demand.

From his data on a 230-bushel corn crop, the key number is 7 pounds of nitrogen per acre per day. That’s how much the plant must take up every day for about three weeks at peak demand. At 300 bushels, that jumps to around 9 pounds per acre per day. One of the questions farmers need to ask their retailer on a nitrogen-fixing biological they’re considering is, how much will it help provide during the key periods of demand?

Corn requires significant amounts of nitrogen during key growth stages to deliver a 230-bushel corn crop. The demand makes it hugely challenging for a biological to deliver sufficient N as a standalone product.

(Connor Sible)

Sible makes two critical points:

Don’t cut N and expect a biological to fully replace it.
When growers drop early-season nitrogen in hopes that microbes will fill the gap, his team often sees corn respond by reducing kernel set. The yield ceiling falls before the biological has time to colonize and contribute.
Placement and mode of action matter.
Products marketed as N fixers don’t all work the same way. Some colonize roots externally, some live inside the plant as endophytes, and some may enhance N assimilation rather than truly fixing atmospheric N. That affects:
- Whether they’re best applied in-furrow, on-seed or foliar.
- What they can be tank-mixed with.
- When they’ll begin supplying nitrogen.

Farmers trialing N-fixing products this season should treat them as insurance or a supplement and not a license to slash N rates across the board, Sible advises.

Phosphorus-Solubilizing Microbes

Soils often hold a high volume of total phosphorus, but much of it is locked in forms plants cannot access. Certain microbes can free up this nutrient by secreting weak organic acids that chelate soil cations away from phosphate.

In field trials, the most consistent benefits occurred when microbes were supplied in-furrow or very near the roots and applied alongside phosphorus fertilizer. Using “difference methods” to track uptake, Sible reports that baseline efficiencies often sat between 4% and 7%. With a P-solubilizing product, that jumped to the 7% to 11% range in some environments.

“It’s still not great, but it nearly doubled our efficiency in some environments,” he says. However, he cautions that cutting fertilizer back significantly and expecting microbes to “mine” the difference is not a reliable strategy.

The Carbon Battle: Residue Management

Residue degradation is where Sible sees some of the strongest opportunities for biologicals, especially in high-yield or no-till systems.

Every 10 bushels of corn adds about 440 pounds of residue; over a decade, a yield gain of 25 bushels can mean an extra half-ton of residue per acre.

The challenge is the high carbon-to-sulfur ratio in corn stalks, which ties up nutrients. Sible’s research has found that biological degraders are inconsistent on their own but show significant synergy when paired with nitrogen and sulfur.

“If you’re going to use these, understand they’re fighting an uphill battle against carbon,” Sible says.

He also stresses application timing: “Spray on cloudy days or in the evening to take advantage of overnight dew. You have to set the product up to succeed.”

Carbon and Humic Products

When evaluating humic acids and molasses-type products (sugar), Sible notes a clear divide between crops. In soybeans, results have been largely inconsistent. In corn, however, in-furrow carbon and humic products produced small but consistent yield gains that held up under economic analysis.

Sible attributes this to crop physiology. Corn makes major yield decisions twice: during early vegetative stages (kernel potential) and at pollination (kernel retention). Supporting the plant during these specific windows has offered a measurable response.

Soybeans, by contrast, adjust yield daily from flowering through seed fill, making them a much harder target for a single application of a biostimulant.

Stress-Mitigating Products

Sible sees value in some stress-mitigating products — often kelp or marine extracts — that claim to help crops tolerate drought, heat or other abiotic stress. He notes these materials are often rich in metabolites that help plants survive extreme fluctuations in temperature, moisture and salinity.

When applied to crop leaves, these materials can trigger stress-defense pathways.But they only work if they’re applied before the stress hits.

“You have to be proactive, not reactive,” Sible says. “If the corn is already curled or the soybean leaves are flipped over, it’s too late for these products to do much.”

He tells farmers to watch their 7- to 10-day forecasts and time applications ahead of expected heat waves or dry spells, adding that these products are ineffective as rescue treatments.

From Products to Purpose

Across all categories of biological products, Sible’s advice remains the same: define your “why.” If a product doesn’t clearly fit a specific goal — such as improving N efficiency at peak uptake or accelerating residue breakdown — it may not be worth the investment.

“There are some really exciting tools out there,” Sible says. “But the value comes when you use them precisely, not when you expect them to fix everything.”

As farmers evaluate biological products, Sible notes there are about 10 frequently used types of “active ingredients” that are better-understood, likely credible and worth evaluating. They include:

Bacillus amyloliquefaciens
Bacillus subtilis
Bradyrhizobium spp. (classic soybean inoculant – “the original biological”)
Azospirillum spp.
Trichoderma spp.
Azotobacter spp.
Several other Bacillus and related species are in the top-10 list, as well.

Sible’s framing of these for farmers’ consideration:
If a new product contains one or more of these top 10 species, it “fits the larger narrative of this market.”
If it has something totally different, it might be:
— a random/unproven one-off, or
— truly novel and promising – but in that case he suggests being more cautious and asking more questions.

Treat Soil Moisture Like A Checkbook To Sharpen Irrigation Decisions

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 21:06:30 GMT

As irrigation costs climb and weather grows more erratic, farmers are under pressure to make every inch of water count. One of the simplest, most practical tools they can use this season won’t require new hardware on the pivot — just a different way of thinking about soil moisture.

North Dakota State University associate professor and irrigation engineer Dean Steele encourages farmers to manage soil water like their checkbook: track deposits and withdrawals, and don’t let the account get overdrawn. That mindset, he says, is the foundation of better irrigation timing and improved efficiency.

“The soil is our bank account. We’ve got withdrawals and deposits,” he notes. “Your deposits are the rain and irrigation. Your withdrawals are the crop water use and things like the deep percolation and maybe some runoff.”

The soil profile starts each growing season with a certain balance of water. Every day, evapotranspiration (ET) — the combined effect of evaporation from the soil and transpiration from the crop — pulls moisture out. Rain and irrigation add it back in.

Just as with a financial account, it’s not enough to know how much “money” moves in and out over a year. What also matters is when it moves — especially during critical periods like tasseling or grain fill, Steele says.

Why Seasonal Totals Can Mislead

Steele uses a favorite classroom trick question to show why irrigation timing is so important.

He asks students: If a crop needs 18 inches of ET over a season and the farm receives 12 inches of rain, how much irrigation is required?

The obvious answer is six inches. But that is incorrect.

“If all the rain of that 12 inches comes on May 1, and you get nothing the rest of the season, then you still need 18 inches,” Steele explains.

In that scenario, early-season rain may fill the soil profile, but if it’s not replenished as the crop draws water in July and August, the soil account will be overdrawn exactly when the plant is most sensitive to stress.

The lesson, Steele says, is that seasonal totals hide risk. Farmers need to track the running balance in the soil, not just the sum of rainfall and irrigation on a yearly chart.

Build A Simple Water-Balance Ledger

Steele says growers can implement a practical water-balance approach with tools many already have: a rain gauge, basic ET information and records of irrigation events, often available in their spreadsheet.

A basic checkbook-style water balance would include these four elements:

1. Starting balance: Estimate available water in the rooting zone at planting (for example, after pre-watering or spring recharge).

2. Daily withdrawals: Use ET estimates (from local weather networks, Extension tools or ET calculators) to subtract crop water use.

3. Daily deposits:
- Add effective rainfall (total rain minus runoff or obvious losses).
- Add irrigation applied (inches per pass or per revolution).

4. Running balance: Track how much water remains in the effective root zone relative to field capacity and a chosen depletion limit.

Steele compares ET and side losses to an unavoidable set of expenses — “groceries… housing and taxes” — that must be paid out of the account every day. If those outflows consistently exceed deposits, the crop will eventually experience stress long before the calendar suggests it should.

Adapting The Method To Different Climates

The same accounting framework applies whether you farm in the upper Midwest or the High Plains, but the numbers in the ledger will look very different.

In North Dakota, Steele notes, seasonal ET is relatively modest and summer rainfall sometimes helps “catch up,” meaning there can be more opportunities to pause or reduce irrigation when rainstorms arrive.

In the central and southern High Plains the withdrawals are much larger, according to Brian Arnall, a precision nutrient management Extension specialist at Oklahoma State University.

“Our max ETs can easily hit three‑quarters of an inch a day; our normal ET is half an inch,” Arnall says.

With 100-degree days, 30% humidity and rapidly growing corn, the soil account in the High Plains empties fast. That’s why, in many of those systems, pivots rarely shut off once they’re started, notes Arnall.

“By the end of our cropping season, we’ll probably be right at neutral, if not negative, as far as total ET and application,” he says.

For growers in Arnall’s area, the checkbook model confirms that almost constant deposits are required just to keep pace — and it can help reveal when small interruptions in irrigation might tip the balance into stress.

Match Irrigation To Crop Root Depth And Soil Type

Steele emphasizes that the size of a farmer’s “bank account” also depends on crop rooting depth and soil characteristics. Deep‑rooted corn on heavier soils can draw from a larger reservoir; potatoes on sandy ground with shallow roots cannot, he notes.

“With a corn crop… two‑thirds of an inch, that’s not a lot of water,” Steele says. In potato ground, by contrast, “if you’re managing 12 inches or 18 inches of root zone depth, that’s maybe what you’ve got to work with, so you’ve got to be around the circle more frequently.”

For farmers, that means:

In deep profiles with good water-holding capacity, the starting moisture balance is higher, and the system can tolerate larger withdrawals between irrigations.
In shallow or sandy profiles, the usable balance is small, so even modest daily ET can rapidly overdraw the account unless irrigations are more frequent.

Using The Ledger To Time Irrigation

Once a farmer has a running soil water balance, the irrigation decision can become a more disciplined approach. Steele advises growers to:

1. Irrigate when the projected balance approaches a chosen depletion threshold, not just when the soil surface looks dry.

2. Adjust application depth so that deposits match likely withdrawals over the next several days, considering forecast ET and possible rainfall.

3. Plan ahead for long pivot runs or “wipers,” where the time needed to complete a pass can allow the far end of the field to spend down its account before the irrigation system returns to that point in the field.

Steele says that on complex systems like windshield‑wiper pivots, he would pay special attention to water balance at both the starting and ending points.

“If I had a windshield wiper, I’d want to keep track of the starting and ending points and see how I’m doing, to make sure… you get back to that starting point in time,” he explains.

In practice, this might mean increasing application depth on certain passes, slowing the pivot at critical growth stages or strategically skipping lower‑risk areas where the account is still healthy.

Adding Sensors And ET Tools To The Checkbook

While Steele’s checkbook analogy can be implemented with simple records, it also provides a framework for using more advanced tech tools. Soil moisture sensors can serve as “bank statements,” verifying that the modeled balance matches reality. ET models and remote sensing can sharpen estimates of daily withdrawals, especially as researchers develop radar‑ and satellite‑based crop water use tools.

“There are people using satellite imagery as part of developing an integrated irrigation management system ... they’re keeping track of weather and soils and doing some estimation of crop water needs, and trying to estimate when the crop is going to need water, and then actually run the irrigation system,” Steele says.

In addition, local irrigation dealers and irrigation equipment manufacturers have apps and tools for managing water in the field, including variable rate irrigation. These tools are typically integrated into phone or desktop apps linked to the control panel of the irrigation system.

He suggests all of these technologies should feed into answering the same core questions: What is my soil water balance today, and what will it be if I do — or don’t — irrigate?

Manage Water Like Money

Behind the math and models, Steele’s message is that farmers who manage soil water like their money are better positioned to use irrigation when it delivers the highest return.

By tracking deposits and withdrawals, recognizing that “when” matters as much as “how much,” and understanding how soil and climate shape their account size, growers can head into this season with a clearer picture of where every inch of water is going — and whether it’s truly helping their crop.

Listen to more of Steele and Arnall’s recommendations on The Crop Podcast Show here .

"Super” El Niño Talk Grows: What It Means for U.S. Farmers

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 14:29:33 GMT

Now that La Niña is out of the picture, farmers across Texas and the Southern Plains are anxiously watching both the skies and the Pacific Ocean, hoping a developing El Niño pattern will finally bring relief to ongoing drought conditions.

The updated forecasts show chances are growing that a historic El Niño is brewing this year. According to NOAA’s April 2026 outlook , there is a 25% chance of a “very strong” or super El Niño developing by late 2026 or early 2027, while NOAA is placing a 50% chance for a “strong” El Niño yet this year.

Ag meteorologist Brian Bledsoe of Brian Bledsoe Weather says the talk of a strong El Niño could be good news for the South and Plains, but the area of concern remains in the Pacific Northwest for summer and fall. And he expects El Niño to continue to be a story into 2027.

While hope for rain relief in parts of the South and West centers on El Niño, in the short term, the question remains: will it arrive in time to matter?

Rapid Shift Toward El Niño

Bledsoe says the most important piece of the forecast right now isn’t just that El Niño is forming—it’s how quickly conditions are changing.

“The thing that I’m focused on right now is just simply the rate of change from where we are right now until about June,” he says.

Bledsoe says the most important piece of the forecast right now isn’t just that El Niño is forming—it’s how quickly conditions are changing. “The thing that I’m focused on right now is just simply the rate of change from where we are right now until about June,” he says.

(ECMWF)

Forecast models are showing unusual agreement on that shift.

“If we look at the latest European seasonal model—you’ve seen this all over the place—look at how closely packed those lines are together from now through June,” Bledsoe says. “That is the model exhibiting very good confidence in not only how quickly this is changing, but also how strongly it’s going to pivot in one direction.”

Confidence decreases further out in time, but the near-term signal is strong.

“As you get out there toward October, you see the lines spread out a little bit—that’s the model saying, ‘Oh, we’re uncertain exactly how strong this is going to be,’” he says.

Still, Bledsoe’s outlook is clear.

“I do think this is going to be a strong El Niño. I’m very grounded in that opinion right now.”

What Makes a “Super El Niño”?

As mainstream headlines increasingly use the term “super El Niño,” Blesoe says the definition is straightforward, but the implications can be significant.

“It just simply means that the sea surface temperature anomalies in a particular area of the Pacific get to be greater than two degrees Celsius above average,” he says.

Some forecasts are pushing beyond even that threshold.

“If we look at some of the computer modeling that’s out there, some of these models push that to over two and a half degrees Celsius above average,” he says. “That is a huge change from where we’ve been in dealing with the La Niña phenomenon off and on for about five out of the past six winters.”

That kind of shift doesn’t just stay in the Pacific.

“When you see that big change take place, it really has a big impact as far as global weather is concerned—let alone what goes on here right in the United States,” Bledsoe says.

Uneven Rainfall Pattern Continues for April

Bledsoe says recent rains have been inconsistent, with parts of the Southern Plains missing chances of rain, while areas of Kansas saw nearly 10 inches of rain over two days. But Bledsoe says that trend isn’t over yet.

“I think some folks got shorted out of this last round of rain,” Bledsoe says. “It’s been very easterly biased. And that’s really been the big trend so far, as these storm systems just simply aren’t slow moving enough and consolidated enough to yank that moisture farther back to the West.”

Brian Bledsoe says the ridge of high pressure parked over the east, but the blue in the west is what is sending energy that’s fueling storms benefiting some areas of the Plains.

(Brian Bledsoe, Brian Bledsoe Weather )

Bledsoe says over the next 10 days, that pattern largely holds.

“The thing that I’m focused on is all of that orange in the East, that’s where the ridge of high pressure is. But the blue out West, that’s where the upper-level low pressure is, that’s where the energy is coming from,” he says. “And we’re going to continue to send pieces of energy through the West and the Southwest that will come out into the Plains that will benefit some areas; however, not everybody.”

The result is a narrow window of opportunity for precipitation.

“Texas into the Midwest looks to benefit from this the most,” Bledsoe says. “But if you look at the western High Plains—which desperately need the moisture right now—we’re still not in a great pattern to bring that moisture far enough northwest to benefit you. And that does include northwest Texas, northeast New Mexico.”

Signs of Improvement Into May

While the short-term outlook remains mixed, there are signals that conditions could begin shifting as spring progresses.

“If we look beyond that for that 30-day period—from, say, April 21st through May 21st—we start to see that dry signal diminish considerably in the middle part of the country,” Bledsoe says.

That doesn’t mean drought is gone, but it may begin to loosen its grip.

“We still stay fairly wet from Texas into the Midwest. We are still getting moisture across parts of the northern Plains,” he says. “But it’s really right there—southeast Wyoming, western Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, down to the Panhandles and eastern New Mexico—where that dry signal kind of relaxes a little bit.”

For producers in those areas, that “relaxing” of dryness could be an early signal of a broader shift tied to El Niño.

“I think that’s kind of a tell to how the pattern is eventually going to evolve as we push into this El Niño by the time we head into May,” he says.

EURO seasonal model forecast for precipitation from May to June.

(WeatherBELL)

Historical Clues Offer Encouragement

Looking to the past can provide additional insight into what might lie ahead.

“If we look at the historical analogs here—1972, ’82, ’97, 2015, and 2023—those five years fit most closely with where we are right now,” Bledsoe says.

“If you look at what the Plains do traditionally during May—they light up. They get much wetter than where they are right now. And that is certainly some good news,” says Bledsoe.

(NOAA Composite of previous comparison years for precipitation. )

And those years, according to Bledsoe, share an important trait for Plains agriculture.

“If you look at what the Plains do traditionally during May—they light up. They get much wetter than where they are right now. And that is certainly some good news.”

Model guidance is echoing that trend.

“The European seasonal model that just got released this week—that’s the May, June, July forecast—all of that green indicates precipitation anomalies that are wetter than average,” he says. “Even if they’re a little bit overdone, the situation is better than where we are right now from a historical basis.”

Temperature trends also offer some relief.

“When we look at the modeling from a temperature side of the coin here, we don’t see any extreme heat right there east of the mountains,” Bledsoe says. “The main heat signal pivots into the Pacific Northwest.”

Managing Expectations in Drought Conditions

Even with strong signals pointing toward El Niño, Bledsoe says improvement won’t happen overnight.

“Folks’ expectations have to be measured a little bit simply because we do have some dry soil and some drought to overcome,” he says.

The key question isn’t just whether rain comes—but how quickly it can make a difference. Still, once the pattern begins to shift, conditions could improve rapidly.

“Once we get things going, then I think it’s off to the races,” Bledsoe says. “It’s a matter of getting things going.”

A Longer-Term Shift Ahead

Regardless of whether it ultimately reaches “super” status, this El Niño event is expected to stick around.

“Even if it isn’t as strong as what some of the modeling is predicting—even if it’s just strong—that El Niño is likely going to continue into at least the first half of 2027,” Bledsoe says.

For producers who have endured multiple years of La Niña-driven variability, that could mark a meaningful, and potentially welcome change in the overall weather pattern. But for now, the focus remains on the coming weeks and whether the long-awaited shift begins in time to impact the 2026 growing season.

Young Farmer Bets On ‘Lightning In A Tank’ To Tame His Fertilizer Bill

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 19:39:22 GMT

Farmer talk at the coffee shop often follows a predictable script: weather, grain prices and the eye-watering cost of inputs. But Carson Kahler, based in Martin County, Minn., is giving viewers of his 6th Gen Farmer videos on YouTube something more unique to discuss.

He’s decided to manufacture his own nitrogen.

“Starting my farming journey, I’m quickly realizing that there are certain things that I have to look at differently than a lot of other farmers do,” Kahler says. “One of those is the increased price in fertilizer and other inputs.”

While most corn and soybean growers are writing checks to their local co-op for all their nitrogen, Kahler is standing in his family’s machinery shed next to something he calls an “ugly conglomeration” of tanks and hoses. It’s a Green Lightning machine, a system that essentially tries to bottle a thunderstorm.

The Science Of The Spark

The technology behind the machine is an attempt to harness one of Mother Nature’s phenomenons. During a thunderstorm, a lightning strike generates enough heat and energy to break the incredibly strong triple bond that holds two nitrogen molecules together in the atmosphere. Once freed, the nitrogen atoms bond with oxygen and dissolve into falling raindrops. The result is a natural, nitrate-rich “fertigation” from the sky.

Kahler’s machine seeks to replicate this process in a controlled environment. By forcing compressed air, water, and electricity through a small chamber, it creates a miniature, continuous lightning storm. The output is water “high in nitrates” that can be stored and applied directly to the field.

For Kahler, the initial investment this past year was a calculated risk. Between the machine itself, the reverse osmosis unit to ensure water purity, the tanks, and the plumbing, he has approximately $10,000 in the system. His current unit is the smallest version available, rated to produce about 6,000 gallons of nitrate water annually. According to the manufacturer, that volume is equivalent to roughly 18,000 pounds of nitrogen.

However, as a young farmer who values data over marketing, Kahler isn’t taking those numbers at face value. “I took a sample out of one of my storage tanks and sent it over to the lab, and sure enough, it has nitrate in it,” he confirms. But knowing it’s there and knowing how the crop will react to it are two very different things.

Navigating Farmer Skepticism

Online, the reputation of Green Lightning is mixed. On forums like AgTalk, some farmers swear by it, while others say it’s a scam.

Much of the early failure associated with the technology stemmed from growers trying to use the nitrate water as a 1:1 replacement for traditional synthetic nitrogen. Research from Precision Planting’s PTI (Precision Technology Institute) Farm in Pontiac, Ill., backed up these concerns.

Precision Planting researchers have conducted a variety of tests on the Green Lightning technology at its Precision Technology Institute Farm based near Pontiac, Ill. More Info

(PTI/Carson Kahler)

Kahler points to data showing that in 2024, using the product as a total nitrogen replacement resulted in a nearly 45-bushel-per-acre yield hit, with similar disappointing results in 2025.

“When it first came out, a lot of people were thinking of it as a nitrogen replacer,” Kahler says. “But based on my research, that’s not the case.”

A Three-Pronged Strategy

Rather than asking the machine to do the impossible, Kahler has developed a strategy where the green lightning water acts as a supporting player — a utility player in his nitrogen lineup. He has identified three key areas where the product might provide a good ROI.

1. In-Furrow Advantage: Kahler modified his 12-row planter with two small tanks and a simple electric pump to apply the product in-furrow. One of the primary benefits of the nitrate water is its lack of salt.

“You don’t need to worry about burning the seed, burning the crops, creating a salt stress,” he says. “Also, if I have a leak or a spill or something, it’s not going to corrode my planter.”

He plans to run about 5 gallons per acre in-furrow, potentially pairing it with biologicals like Novonesis Torque IF. Based on PTI trials that showed a 3.5- to 5-bushel bump, Kahler is optimistic about the synergy.

2. Sidedress Blend The second pillar of his plan involves blending the product with UAN (28% or 32%) during sidedress. While the product performs poorly on its own, studies have suggested that when mixed with traditional nitrogen, it can enhance uptake. Kahler is planning a 70/30 ratio of UAN to green lightning.

Beck’s Hybrids 2025 research shows Green Lighting can replace a significant percentage of UAN:

Trial Insights: Beck’s PFR data shows that using Green Lightning as a starter (2x2x2) followed by a UAN sidedress was highly effective, yielding 207.6 Bu./A. However, when Green Lightning was used to replace the entire sidedress pass (UAN 2x2x2 followed by Green Lightning at V3), yields dropped significantly to 186.1 Bu./A.
Best Use Case: It is currently best utilized as a supplemental nitrogen source or to replace 25% to 55% of synthetic nitrogen. It excels as a “spoon-feeding” tool through foliar applications rather than a single bulk replacement for high-rate soil applications.

3. Water Conditioner: Perhaps the most overlooked benefit of the Green Lightning system, Kahler notes, is the water quality itself. Because the process starts with reverse osmosis water and ends with a product that has a pH of roughly 2.7, it could serve as an ideal carrier for fungicides.

“If you go and use a water that has a pH of 9, for example, the half-life of that fungicide… can go down to 2 minutes,” he explains.

By using the highly acidic, pure nitrate water as a carrier, he hopes to maximize the effectiveness of his chemical passes. “The water… is very pure, so it’s going to be able to be absorbed into the plant leaf a lot better than if you just took some well water and threw some AMS in it,” he estimates.

Dollars And Cents Have To Add Up

For Kahler, the math has to work. With electricity and water costs estimated at roughly 4 cents per gallon — or about 20 cents an acre — the operating costs are negligible compared to traditional starters that can run $20 to $30 per acre.

He is also being disciplined about his “nitrogen bill.” He doesn’t credit the green lightning for his total nitrogen needs in his primary calculations, treating it instead as a bonus or a conditioner. This conservative approach prevents him from under-applying traditional nitrogen and risking significant yield loss.

Despite the hurdles, Kahler remains a realist with an optimistic streak.

“If you add up all the small bushel increases from planting to fungicide, I think that there is a lot of potential efficacy for this product,” he says.

As the season progresses, Kahler will be watching his check strips and his storage tanks. He even has a safety valve in his contract that allows him to return the machine mid-summer if the results aren’t there. But for now, the 6th Gen Farmer is betting on the lightning.

“I’m pretty excited,” he says. “Sure hope it does good.”

Watch Kahler’s video on Green Lightning here:

Relay Cropping System Lowers Input Costs, Raises ROI

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:57:07 GMT

Standing at the edge of a wheat field that will never break yield records, Jason Mauck explains that is exactly the point.

Instead of chasing trophies, the Gaston, Ind., farmer and CEO of Constant Canopy has spent over a decade turning wheat into a biological workhorse designed to support his soybean crops and, ultimately, protect his bottom line.

“It’s about economics,” Mauck says in an April 5 post to X.

Made some infographics tonight to explain our relay wheat system.

The main idea is we can grow 70 bushel wheat and 70 bushel soybeans and make about $250 more revenue per acre than pushing wheat yields up over 100 bu/ac and double cropping them.

We also save over $150 ac in… pic.twitter.com/ClmkKt1Jsq
— Jason Mauck (@jasonmauck1) April 6, 2026

By rethinking the traditional hierarchy of his fields, Mauck has engineered a relay system where wheat plays the perfect supporting actor, setting the stage for his soybean crop to take the lead and shine.

Rethinking Wheat’s Role On The Farm

Mauck’s strategy starts with a mental shift many growers may find uncomfortable: he does not try to push wheat past 100 bushels per acre.

“That takes too much time, too much sunlight,” he says. “You see your revenue is a lot less pushing wheat, selling 60 pounds of crop at a cheaper commodity price.”

Instead, he looks at how wheat and soybeans can perform together in the relay system — wheat first, then soybeans taking over as the season progresses. As wheat yields are dialed back, more resources open up for the beans.

“As your wheat yields go down, it creates space and opportunity and more water for beans,” Mauck explains.

He illustrates the benefit of the relay approach with a comparison. In one scenario, when wheat was pushed to yield 110 bushels, his soybean yields lagged. In a second scenario, both crops delivered yields of about 70 bushels.

“The main idea is we can grow 70-bushel wheat and 70-bushel soybeans and make about $250 more revenue per acre than pushing wheat yields up over 100 bushels per acre and double-cropping (soybeans),” he says in the post on X.

“We also save over $150 an acre in costs due to less wheat and soybean seed, less nitrogen… p+k, less fuel at harvest… and maybe the best thing is we can leave the field after wheat harvest and the soybeans are 2’ tall … not requiring baling/burning/ or tilling the straw,” he adds.

Mauck shows what his wheat crop looked like on April 5.

(Jason Mauck)

Lower Populations, Lower Inputs

To make the relay system work, over time Mauck has adjusted how he plants and manages wheat. One of the biggest changes has been to his seeding rate.

He plants a reduced wheat stand — about 425,000 seeds per acre — using only 18 rows of a 32-row planter. That leaves room in the system to intercrop soybeans while still establishing a solid wheat crop.

With fewer plants in the field, the wheat has access to more room and sunlight. Mauck notes that the result is heavy tillering which compensates for the lower population.

“We can get, you know, five, seven, nine wheat heads off of a single seed, and that helps drive the aggregate cost down to be about $150 [an acre] less than a corn crop,” he says.

Lower plant numbers also change how he fertilizes, reducing costs.

“It doesn’t take nearly as much nitrogen to push wheat to healthy vigor, with more light and less plants to feed,” he notes.

Wheat As A “Hybrid” Cover Crop

Another pillar of Mauck’s approach is timing of the crops. Wheat begins growing in February, well before soybeans go into the ground.

By early to mid-April, the wheat is about 10 inches tall. That growth is important, as the wheat pulls moisture out of the profile and conditions the field for the soybeans that will soon be planted.

Mauck says the wheat works like a “revenue-generating cover crop.” It creates a unique growing environment, allowing him to plant soybeans into a clean, conventional seedbed centered between the wheat rows. With a row of wheat positioned just inches to either side of the beans, the system naturally forms a solar corridor. This setup allows the wheat to manage soil moisture early on, while ensuring the soybeans have plenty of direct sunlight and space to flourish.

Once the wheat is harvested, the soybeans get an additional boost. “When we remove the wheat, it essentially prunes the biomass, allowing more light for the soybeans,” Mauck says.

In effect, wheat serves three purposes, he adds: it functions as a cash crop, a living cover that prepares the soil environment, and a temporary competitor to weeds before soybeans close the canopy.

A farmer a little south of me just shared these pics of him planting his relay beans… with the harvesting videos from last summer.

He’s not up to 285 acres and has plans to scale to 700+ next year revising to a 40’ system.

He’s finding this system to be much more profitable… pic.twitter.com/L6lvsM0E31
— Jason Mauck (@jasonmauck1) April 7, 2026

Built For Controlled Traffic And Big Iron

While Mauck says the agronomics of the relay system are impressive, the secret to its scalability is mechanical precision. He uses a 40-foot “controlled traffic” system in fields, which essentially designates permanent highways for heavy machinery and protects the rest of the soil from compaction.

Here is how he breaks down the math of the wheel tracks:

The Triple Row (135-inch centers): The widest part of the layout is designed so the combine’s “fat tires” roll directly over a specific triple row of wheat.

The Inside Rows (60-inch centers): These are spaced to match the standard wheel tracks of a tractor, allowing it to pass through the field without touching the crop zone.

GPS Guidance: Thanks to GPS, every pass — from the sprayer to the harvester — follows the same lines year after year.

By concentrating all the heavy weight into these narrow, dedicated lanes, Mauck keeps the majority of his soils loose and aerated. It turns the logistical headache of “driving over two crops” into a streamlined, repeatable process that limits damage.

Eleven Years Of Refinement

Mauck has been working with the wheat–soybean relay concept for more than a decade, tweaking details as he learns how the crops interact and how the economics pencil out.

At this point, he is largely satisfied with the agronomics and structure of the system. The next frontier, he believes, is adding more precision to how he applies inputs.

“The only change that we can make is getting equipment to where we can band spray, we can sidedress the wheat when we plant the beans, and we can do a little bit more with the system,” he says. “But I’m very happy with the agronomics that we’ve got this year. Really looking forward to how this will play out as we go forward.”

Mauck believes his experience offers a different way to think about having small grains and soybeans in the same field. Rather than treating wheat as a standalone crop or a cover that must be terminated, he uses it as a living partner that hands off moisture, light and space to soybeans at just the right time.

The takeaway for other farmers, he says, is straightforward: focus on profit, not just bushels, and let each crop in the system do the job it’s best suited to do.

Blake Vince Shares 1.7 Million Reasons To Stop Tilling Your Soil

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 21:05:44 GMT

Blake Vince says some of the most highly-valued help on his 1,200-acre Ontario, Canada, farm never show up on a payroll sheet.

They live under his boots.

“One day I went out with a shovel, flipped over a slice of soil about 12 inches by 12 inches, and I started counting earthworms,” Vince recalls. “I counted 40 in that one square.”

He quickly estimated how many earthworms likely live in one acre of his cropland: “Multiply that 40 by 43,560 [the square feet in one acre] and you get 1,742,400. That’s a hell of a lot of earthworms out there in my soil doing the work.”

For Vince, earthworms are more than a sign of good soil — they’re central characters in how he farms, evaluates risk and stays profitable. In a production system shaped by no-till, planting green and cover crops, he sees earthworms as the quiet workforce that’s helping hold the whole thing together, he recently told farmers attending the 2026 Soil Health Conference in Aberdeen, S.D.

(Blake Vince)

From Traditional Tillage To Tiny Tillers

Vince grew up believing that aggressive tillage comes at a cost. The renowned fifth-generation farmer from Merlin — a 750-person farming community in southwest Ontario — is considered a conservation farming pioneer in the region, having used no-till for over 40 years to protect soil structure.

“(I learned early) that tillage was eroding our largest capital investment, our soil. Soil is not an infinite resource. I can’t stress that enough,” he says.

Blake’s father and his brothers started to no-till in 1983 when he was just 11 years old.

“Our motive for what we do on our farm first and foremost is to remain financially viable,” he says. “And then what’s important is the fact that we’re protecting the environment.”

Those two goals continue today on the farm, which he operates with his father, Elwin. Together, they grow commercial corn, soybeans and winter wheat, and cover crop for seed on approximately 1,200 acres.

The father-son team seeds cash crops directly into living covers such as cereal rye to suppress weeds, protect soil and extend the period of living roots. Vince says they use planting green to cut passes, reduce herbicide pressure and boost resilience in dry spells, evaluating the benefits by agronomics and economics, not appearances.

Even with its proximity to the Great Lakes (see image below), the farm’s heavy Brookston clay operates within a moisture-strapped, 16-inch rainfall zone. In such an environment, soil disturbance is critical.

Blake Vince’s farm is based just north of Lake Erie and south of Lake Huron. But despite its proximity to the Great Lakes, the farm only sees about 16 inches of rain annually.

(Blake Vince)

Vince categorizes soils as either “defensive” or “offensive.” On offensive soils, he believes aggressive tillage can continue for years with little visible impact.

“You can till it with the most aggressive tillage passes, and you can still grow a crop… So the decline is gradual,” he contends, noting he believes much of the upper Midwest has offensive soils.

His own ground is the opposite, and he refers to his soils as being defensive. As a result, the wrong tillage pass at the wrong moisture level could smear the soil profile, seal off pores and restrict roots just when crops need water the most.

“We can’t go down into the depth of the soil to bring up the much-needed moisture during that critical period of year when it’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit outside and the corn is trying to pollinate,” Vince says.

Betting On Biology Instead Of Iron

When Vince talks about earthworms, he sounds like a businessman who’s discovered an overlooked, underpaid labor force.

“When an earthworm poops, it’s pH neutral,” he says. “So it’s bringing all of those nutrients from depth, turning organic material — last year’s crop residue — into plant-available nutrients for subsequent crops that we grow.”

In other words: free nutrient cycling, free aggregation, free tillage.

A moment that cemented Vince’s faith in earthworms started with a disagreement. His independent agronomist, looking at soil test results, told him he needed to apply lime. Vince didn’t dispute that. The sticking point was how to use it.

“She suggested to me, ‘Blake, you need to add lime, which I agreed, but in order to use that lime and make it most effective, you need to till it in,’” he recalls. “And I said, ‘No. That’s where the buck stops. I am not interested in doing tillage. It costs time, it costs energy, it costs money — diesel fuel, depreciation, as we all know.’”

Vince’s answer sounded simple, almost unbelievable, even naive.

“I’ve got so many earthworms, they’ll do the work for me,” he told her.

Later, while installing tile drainage, he found the proof he’d been looking for. At the top of an earthworm midden — a vertical burrow —he saw a dusting of white on the soil surface.

“So folks, this is an earthworm midden,” he told the audience as he showed the image (see below). “You can see at the top of the picture, that’s lime that’s been broadcast on the surface. That earthworm has crawled to the surface. It’s got its body coated in lime that we’ve spread just on the surface, and now it’s bringing it down in its middens, down in its vertical burrows.”

Earthworms help move lime below the soil’s surface.

(Blake Vince)

For most farmers, incorporating lime means fuel, wear on steel and the risk of compaction or smearing. For Vince, it meant waiting on the night shift.

“If we think back to that picture where I was standing there with those earthworm casts, how much horsepower would be required to do tillage at that depth?” he asked the audience. “More than I have.”

In his view, every pass he doesn’t make is one more way he can reduce costs and protect his bottom line.

The contributions of earthworms to global food development have been assessed by the National Institutes of Health . The agency reports earthworms contribute to roughly 6.5% of global grain (maize, rice, wheat, barley) production and 2.3% of legume production, equivalent to over 140 million metric tons annually.

The Unseen Economics Underfoot

Behind Vince’s enthusiasm for earthworms and farming green lies a hard-edged focus on economics. From a brief stint in financial services, he brought one non-negotiable rule home to the farm: pay yourself first.

“The number one rule of financial planning is what? Pay yourself first,” he says. “With that mentality, I started thinking: how do I do that here? I don’t control the price of seed, chemicals, fertilizer, diesel, or machinery. But I can control how I manage my soil.”

One of his major “pay yourself first” decisions a decade ago was switching to 100% non-GMO soybeans. Growing them allows him to brown bag his own seed without worrying about patent infringement, all while securing a market premium.

“I’ve been doing this for over 10 years now,” he says. “Mathematically, I figure I’m well over a million dollars ahead in net profit, simply because of my willingness to think differently.”

That thinking applies to earthworms, too. To Vince, every earthworm burrow is a tiny cost-saving device. Every casting is a granule of fertilizer he doesn’t have to buy or risk losing to runoff. Every year he skips deep tillage is a year he avoids burning diesel and breaking shear bolts.

“Doing nothing, in all actuality, is doing something,” he told the audience. By “nothing,” he doesn’t mean neglect; he means resisting the urge to disturb the natural infrastructure the worms are building for him.

More Than A Soil Test Number

Vince doesn’t romanticize his soils. He’s pragmatic, often blunt, about what’s at stake when farmers ignore the biology just beneath the surface.

“We abuse our land because we regard it as a commodity,” he says, quoting conservationist Aldo Leopold. Then he adds his own twist. “‘Dirt’ is a four-letter word I wish everybody in agriculture would remove from their vocabulary… It’s soil. It’s a collection of living, breathing organisms, and we need to treat it with respect.”

On his farm, that respect looks like cover crops to keep the soil armored, no-till to protect structure and planting green to keep living roots feeding the underground food web as long as possible. Earthworms are both beneficiaries and drivers of that system.

“My main focus is preparing our transfer of our farm to the next generation, regardless if they’re our kids, or they’re somebody else’s kids,” Vince says. “I want [the farm] to be as productive as possible, so they can be a success.”

As long as he keeps the soils covered and the roots living, he knows his million-man workforce underground will be clocking in for their shift every single day, helping the farm thrive.

Listen to Vince’s keynote presentation during the 2026 Soil Health Conference here .

Boost Your Bottom Line By Keeping Your Soils In Place

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:20:39 GMT

Not every cost on the farm shows up on an invoice. In the view of Eric Beckett, some of the most expensive losses corn and soybean growers face this spring will be invisible — soil carried away by winds moving across their fields.

Beckett, an agronomist with Sunrise FS, says a combination of windier springs, tighter margins and volatile fertilizer prices is forcing a reckoning with long-standing tillage and nutrient application habits. The goal for farmers, he contends, shouldn’t be just agronomic performance this season but risk management, as well.

“Anytime we drag a piece of tillage equipment across the field, we are essentially breaking down that soil aggregate into smaller aggregates,” Beckett says. “That makes soil more susceptible to loss.”

While Beckett isn’t calling for an end to tillage, he is urging farmers in Illinois and beyond to consider the “ramifications coming down the road” before making multiple passes to clean up winter annuals or level tile lines.

A Growing Storm in the Midwest

Beckett’s concerns are grounded in shifting weather patterns. Meteorologists like Victor Gensini at Northern Illinois University have noted a rise in the frequency of convective storms and damaging straight-line winds across the Midwest and Southeast.

Likewise, Nutrien principal atmospheric scientist Eric Snodgrass reports that the Midwest is in a rapid transition from La Niña to ENSO-neutral conditions. While this “swift exit” can open planting windows, it also creates erratic atmospheric patterns. High-velocity winds are expected to surge through the Mississippi and Missouri River valleys through early April.

Beckett offers a concerned reminder for farmers tempted to push through windy conditions: “You’ve paid good money for that fertilizer. Why would we go out there when it’s windy and we have no idea where that fertilizer is going to end up, especially if it’s a variable-rate application where we know specific areas of a field need those nutrients?”

Calculating the True Cost of a Pass

Beyond the risk of blowing nutrients, Beckett suggests farmers “crunch the numbers” on the physical cost of every pass. With diesel prices hovering around $5 a gallon currently and tractor leases reaching $300 to $400 per hour, the overhead of extra tillage adds up quickly.

Beyond hard costs, tillage in what are currently dry soils will create additional costs. Beckett describes the ground in his area as “dry as a bone” six to eight feet down.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, this isn’t just an east-central Illinois issue: 41% of the U.S. corn-producing area and 42% of soybean acreage are currently experiencing some degree of drought. In droughty conditions, every unnecessary tillage pass further dries out the seedbed and can impact topsoil.

Navigating the Label and the Law

Wind doesn’t just steal nutrients; it creates significant legal liability. Most herbicide labels cap applications at 10 mph—a limit that is a legally binding mandate for many products, not a suggestion.

“If you are applying outside those windows and something goes wrong, you can be held liable,” Beckett cautions. To navigate these tighter windows, he suggests focusing on three tactical areas:

Carrier Volume: Increasing from 5 or 10 gallons per acre to 15 or 20 gallons can improve coverage and reduce the risk of fine, drift-prone droplets.
The Dust Factor: Even if winds are within legal limits, fine soil particles can “tie up” product and carry it off-target before it even hits the ground.
Drift-Reduction Tools: While not a license to spray in a gale, modern spray tips and drift-reduction agents are underutilized tools that can significantly improve stewardship.

The New Era Of Documentation

As new requirements tied to the Endangered Species Act take hold, Beckett says the burden of proof for compliance falls squarely on the applicator—whether that is the farmer or a custom applicator.

“Each field has got to have its own documentation,” he says. “Even if it’s just a manila folder... fill out what your mitigation practices are, what your setbacks are. Have that established in a file so the applicator can add to it as the season progresses.”

This level of detail is necessary because the industry is “under the microscope.” In an era where every passerby has a smartphone camera, Beckett says an application in a dusty field can end up on social media in minutes.

Ultimately, Beckett is asking farmers to make a deliberate pause to question habits and routine applications.

“I’m not standing here saying that everybody’s got to put cover crops on and turn every field green,” he says. “But if, collectively, everybody took it a little bit more upon themselves, I think we’d be in a lot better shape.”

Beckett addresses the topic of managing tillage and spray applications in unpredictable weather conditions during a recent episode of the Illinois Field Advisor podcast. You can watch the complete podcast here .

USDA Faces Record-Low Acreage Survey Response as NASS Seeks to Rebuild Trust with Farmers

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:48:45 GMT

The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) released the March 2026 Prospective Plantings report Tuesday, and with no major surprises, the story this year may not just what farmers plan to plant, but how few farmers actually responded. Only 37.6% of producers participated, marking the lowest response rate in the survey’s history.

(Source: USDA)

For NASS , the implications go beyond a number. According to Lance Honig, chair of the Agricultural Statistics Board, the low participation highlights a growing trust gap between farmers and the agency.

“We’ve got a bit of a trust issue out there,” Honig tells U.S. Farm Report. “That’s what I read on social media. That’s what I read in various farmer comments. That’s an issue right now… something we’ve got to work on rebuilding. We’re open to hearing what we can do to help rebuild that. We had a session at the Outlook Forum to talk about it. We’ve got the data user meeting coming up in just a few weeks on April 22nd. And we’ve got a request for information out there. We are seeking input from our users and our customers to tell us what we can do better, what we can do to help reestablish that trust. That’ll hopefully get farmers willing to respond to these surveys again.”

NASS @usda_nass is a small group of statisticians. They're good people. They have a tough job. Big Ag is much more nefarious. I think lots of people have it backwards. https://t.co/14ZOQW4m6m
— Joe Vaclavik (@StandardGrain) April 1, 2026

Even before the results were released this week, Honig told Farm Journal farmer participation is more important than ever, but he was concerned fewer farmers may participate, especially if they’re frustrated .

Honig emphasizes that rebuilding trust is critical because accurate data ensures farmers have a level playing field in agricultural markets.

“What we’re doing is to benefit everyone in agriculture, specifically the farmers, because we’re out here level in the playing field,” he says. “If we don’t produce accurate numbers, there are large companies out there that are going to be in a much better position to know what’s going on. We don’t want farmers to be at a disadvantage. But in order to keep that working smoothly, we do also need the cooperation of the farmers. We need to work together. We want to work together. And anything I can do to help make that better, I’d love to hear it because I’d love to do it.”

Regional Patterns, Response Challenges

Even with a low response rate for this report, Honig says response rates vary across the country each year, with certain regions consistently harder to reach. Honig noted that the Plains states—from Kansas up through the Dakotas—pose ongoing challenges.

“Response typically varies across the country,” he said. “Some of the toughest areas to get cooperation are through the Plains states… this time was no exception. But when you know where you’ve got these regional dips, we make some adjustments with our sampling in those areas. We didn’t see any change in the pattern of where response is higher and lower this time.”

Seth Meyer, who was the chief economist for USDA for the past five years, before returning to the University of Missouri as the director of FAPRI earlier this year, points out this is simply what farmers intend to plant, and these numbers will likely change.

“This is like watching the beginning of a negotiation. And so this is a really a survey based upon farmers’ response of what they might do, what they’re thinking about doing,” says Meyer. “And you’re kind of watching the bid process with the market, but you’re only seeing the farmers offer. Now you got to see the market go back and forth a bit.”

Timing of Responses Could Be Key

In an effort to increase transparency, NASS released daily response rates for the first time, giving analysts and farmers insight into when the data came in, which is key this year due to the ongoing conflict in Iran.

“Well, really two reasons. One is we try to really double down on transparency and rebuilding relationships out there, making it as clear about what these data represent as possible. We felt that was a key piece of information that we could share. So you can see within that two-and-a-half-week window when the data came in, what farmers were thinking when they reported—it’s really critical for this report. Specifically, there have been some events during that period that really had a big impact on what farmers might be thinking. Fertilizer prices spiked and things of that nature. We just wanted folks to be able to look at the data and see for themselves: what do you think the data really mean, knowing that this is when farmers actually told us what their intentions were?”

(USDA)

Meyer says by NASS reporting the share of farmer responses they received by day, from February 27 to March 15, it could help shine light on the share of responses that were submitted before the war started.

“And you know why [Lance] did it this year? Because we had the war with Iran beginning towards the end February and then continuing on. And so I think what happened is there’s something that initially folks might have thought was going to be a short action continues until today,” says Meyer. “So I think it was important for him to know where we were at, how many responses he’s getting because we saw fertilizer prices climb immediately, but then stay high as time went on. I think it was a critical piece of information for NASS, to say this is the response farmers were giving us and putting that in context of high oil and high fertilizer

Noticed this one, good context for this year, what was the response rate? https://t.co/f7YSGyezxG
— Seth Meyer (@SethMeyerMU) March 31, 2026

Market analysts say global events and regional fertilizer access likely influenced farmer responses to the Prospective Plantings survey. Joe Vaclavik of Standard Grain agrees that timing could have played a role in this survey, but it’s hard to put an exact percentage on how many acres could possibly change.

“The surveys were being taken as the Iran and fertilizer situation was all unfolding. I’ve heard differing things about the fertilizer situation. Some of it appears to be regional. Feels to me, and based on what I’ve heard, farmers in the central Corn Belt and maybe in the eastern Corn Belt also had a lot of their nitrogen needs locked up prior to the initial attacks in Iran. And it seems like in some of, call them fringe areas or western Corn Belt areas, maybe not so much,” says Vaclavik.

He also points to market price shifts as another factor affecting planting intentions.

“Corn prices did rise at least momentarily following the initial attacks, and that may have helped to offset some of the fertilizer increase… but now we’ve given back all of those gains,” Vaclavik said.

The combination of global events, regional fertilizer access, and short-term price swings highlights the complexity of interpreting early March planting intentions, underscoring why NASS emphasizes that the report captures intentions, not final plantings.”

Crop Trends

While the report itself revealed some expected shifts, they were largely secondary to the trust and response issues. Corn acreage is projected at 95.3 million acres, down 3% from 2025, while soybeans are projected up 4% to 84.7 million acres. Wheat acreage continues a long-term decline, hitting a record low, with both winter and spring wheat contributing to the drop. Rice acres also declined slightly.

Honig describes these numbers as consistent with trends but reinforced the importance of interpreting them carefully.

“There weren’t a lot of surprises in this report,” he said. “But certainly some interesting numbers, and we want people to know this is what farmers were thinking in early March, given the economic environment and input prices at that time.”

Even with declining corn acreage and rising soybean intentions, analysts say the March Prospective Plantings report was largely in line with expectations. Dan Basse, president of AgResource Company, describes the report as “rather an even keel situation.”

“No, I think it was tied,” Basse says. “When you lose three and a half million acres and gain three and a half million of soybeans, three and a half million acres of corn loss, you end up with rather an even keel situation. We need those extra, if you will, soybean acres. I would still say the market has a lean to buy more soybean acres relative to corn, but there’s also a strong historical tendency that we find additional corn acres by the June report. Over the last five to ten years, we tend to go up somewhere around two million acres in total. So again, maybe not that much this year because of [market conditions].”

With historical trends suggesting corn acreage may still rise slightly before final plantings are set, keeping the market closely watching June acreage updates.

Looking Ahead to June

With planting season underway, the June acreage report will provide an updated picture of plantings. As Basse pointed out, if you look at what history shows, corn acreage tends to increase by 2 million acres from March to June. But NASS officials emphasize that rebuilding farmer participation is critical for the reliability of all future reports.

“Absolutely,” Honig said. “I want to do everything I can to help reestablish that trust. I want to hear from folks: tell me, from your perspective, what we can do to help rebuild that trust. This is a partnership. Accurate numbers are critical for farmers. We need your cooperation, and we want to work together.”

Turn Your Soil Test Results Into Better Fertility Decisions

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 21:02:00 GMT

Knowing your soil test results is one thing. Knowing how the lab got those numbers — and which extractants it used — is just as important for making solid fertility decisions.

“At Ward laboratories, we like to use multiple extracts changing as we change the elements we’re looking at in the soil,” says Nick Ward, PhD, president of Ward Laboratories, Kearney, Neb.

“Given the diverse soils that we work with in our customer base, we try to do these different extracts to best accommodate and make an even playing field for everybody,” he adds.

That “even playing field” matters because not all soils — or regions — behave the same way. A number that signals a fertilizer response in one soil type or environment might mean something very different in another, depending on the extractant used.

Phosphorus Is An Important Example

Phosphorus (P) is a prime case where understanding the extractants and where they fit can help you make better fertility decisions.

Ward Laboratories typically uses Mehlich-3 ICP as its standard extractant because of its versatility across various soil textures and organic matter levels.

“When we have a Mehlich-3 value of 18 parts per million of P, the chances for yield response by adding fertilizer is very good,” Ward says, noting that decades of university research tie these specific numbers to actual yield outcomes.

While the Mehlich-3 is being used more extensively in the Corn Belt, some agronomic experts say it’s not the right extractant for all soil types and conditions. Two other common ones laboratories use are:

1. Olsen P (Bicarbonate P): It is often preferred for high-pH, alkaline, and calcareous soils typical of the Western U.S.

“The Olsen test extracts P using sodium bicarbonate and is the best test to use for situations where soil pH is 7.4 or greater,” says Dan Kaiser, a nutrient management specialist with University of Minnesota Extension, in this online article .

2. Bray-P1: It is often used in slightly alkaline to highly acidic soils (pH of 7.4 or less). Kaiser says the Bray-P1 test extracts P with acids and has been a popular test for over 50 years as data continue to show the ability of Bray-P1 to predict crop yield response to P.

Kaiser adds that soil-test labs using the Bray-P1 or Olsen will often run the Olsen test at a certain pH automatically, which makes it easier for farmers “as you do not have to decide which test to use before you submit samples.”

Matching Extractants To Nutrients

While Mehlich-3 is sometimes promoted as universal, Ward agrees with other experts that different nutrients are best served by different extractants and tests.

For example, when shifting focus to potassium (K) and other cations like calcium and magnesium, Ward Laboratories moves to ammonium acetate, a neutral-pH solution.

This method is used to determine a soil’s Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC).

Ward explains that because ammonium acetate is neutral, it prevents overestimating the nutrients a plant can actually absorb. “It’s not a harsh chemical that’s going to give us too much of an element that would not otherwise be something the plant would see,” he says.

For micronutrients like zinc, iron, and copper, the lab employs DTPA, a chelating agent.
The DTPA process “grabs” micronutrient ions so they can be measured with high precision. Ward notes that he is “very confident” in the results because they are backed by decades of data regarding fertilizer responsiveness.

Ask The Lab Or Your Retailer Questions

For farmers and advisers, the main takeaway is that soil tests results and reports are not all created equal — even when the numbers look similar on paper. Knowing which extractant a lab uses, and why, is key to interpreting results correctly and comparing them across time, fields and regions.

For farmers and crop advisers looking to make the most of their investment in soil sampling, Ward offers three recommendations:

Identify the extractant: Know which method your lab is using for each specific nutrient.
Maintain consistency: Stick with the same method over several years to accurately track trends and compare fields. Don’t “mix and match” methods.
Seek regional alignment: Use the extractant that matches the calibrated research performed by your local land-grant university.

For those farmers requiring specialized testing not found on a standard menu, Ward encourages direct communication with your laboratory to check your options.

“We try to be accommodating,” he says. “If you don’t see it on our fee schedule, you’re more than welcome to send us an email and ask.”

Learn more of Ward’s insights on the use of various extractants in his latest video on YouTube.

Warm, Dry Spring Speeds Mississippi Planting Pace as March Freeze Forces Some Replanting

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 14:07:16 GMT

An unusually warm and dry spring is accelerating planting progress across parts of Mississippi, allowing farmers to move ahead of their typical schedule while also raising concerns about crop resilience and shifting acreage decisions.

On his farm in Sunflower County, Adron Belk’s planters are already running at full speed as conditions remain favorable.

“If everything goes well, the weather keeps on like it’s going, by the end of this week we should have all of our corn in the ground and probably all of our grain sorghum or milo,” Belk says.

Farmers Hit by March Freeze

Belk notes this year’s planting pace is slightly ahead of normal for his operation, though not unprecedented.

“It depends on who you ask… for us, this is about on time. Typically we’re a little bit later. I’d say maybe we’re a week earlier than normal,” he says. “A bit south of here, some guys planted a couple weeks ago and then we got an unexpected freeze.”

Corn in Mississippi hit by the freeze earlier this month.

(Chris, Mississippi )

That freeze is now creating challenges for some producers. Reports from nearby fields suggest damage to early-emerged corn, with some needing to be replanted.

“There’s a lot of talk going around right now of some of the corn looking like about 20% has got to be replanted, which was kind of a surprise,” Belk says. “Most of the time when you get freezes like that, the corn comes out of it.”

Buggy-whipping often occurs as corn recovers from freeze. This happens as new growth temporarily hangs on dead vegetation. They should soon pull free with little adverse effects.

For reference, the corn in the last photo still made over 250 bu/a despite severe hail damage. 🌽 pic.twitter.com/ptAO0nxYst
— Erick Larson (@MStateCorn) March 26, 2026

Focus on Fertilizer

Despite broader concerns about rising input costs across the U.S., Belk says his operation has avoided major supply issues so far.

“We book fertilizer early, and we’re very much in the South, and so we have not had any problems so far with getting supply,” he says.

While Belk is maintaining a relatively steady crop rotation — roughly a 50/50 split between corn and soybeans — other parts of the Mississippi Delta are seeing more dramatic changes.

Cotton Acreage Changes

Just north in Clarksdale, crop consultant Andy Graves says cotton acreage is expected to drop sharply this season.

“In this area, this is cotton country… it’s supposed to be,” Graves says. “We’re going to be about 50% off of what we planted in 2024.”

Graves says the reduction is significant, especially considering many growers typically plant thousands of acres of cotton each year.

“I’ve got guys that have been growing cotton — my average customer is going to grow three to four thousand acres of cotton every year — and a lot of these guys are going down to 500 to 1,500 acres,” he says.

He points to a combination of economic pressures behind the shift.

“The only reason they’re doing that is because they’re tied into a gin or they have a million-dollar cotton picker sitting there that they can’t park,” Graves says. “With what’s going on with fertilizer and fuel prices right now, it makes it even more unattractive to plant the stuff. The market isn’t there.”

Dry Conditions Aid Planting Progress

84% of the South is seeing dry conditions as of March 26, 2026

(U.S. Drought Monitor )

It’s not just the dry spring causing many farmers in the region to make strong progress and run slightly ahead of their typical planting window, it’s also how dry it’s been. According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, 84% of the South is seeing dry conditions as of March 26, 2026. If you look just at Mississippi, 68% of the state is seeing some level of drought.

Farmers say there’s enough topsoil moisture to plant the crop, but the drought picture this early in the year is a concern.

Betting on Biomass: How Two Farmers Turn Cover Crops Into Weed Control

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 20:37:16 GMT

When herbicide-resistant waterhemp began rewriting the rules of weed control for farmers in Illinois, Frank Rademacher didn’t respond by using more products. Instead, he doubled down on no-till and cover crops, betting that a living carpet of rye and roots could do what herbicides alone no longer could.

Rademacher, who farms with his father in Champaign County, recalls the initial transition was a steep learning curve, complicated by making too many changes at one time.

“When we got into cover crops heavy, that was also basically the same year we switched everything over to no-till, and the same year we switched all of our crops to non-GMO,” he says. “Boy, that was a mistake on a lot of fronts, because your weed populations really shift in the process of switching to no-till, at least initially.”

Despite the early hurdles, cereal rye became the foundation of Rademacher’s weed-control program. On his east-central Illinois fields, drilled cereal rye—planted early at roughly 50 pounds per acre—has provided enough biomass to simplify herbicide programs in his non-GMO soybeans.

“There [have been] a lot of times where we have just done like a one-pass herbicide program, so no post spray, and that was in non-GMO beans, and they were really clean,” Rademacher says.

Match Cover Crop Species to Farm Goals

Hundreds of miles away in Virginia, Paul Davis follows a similar philosophy. No-tilling since 1999 and using covers since 2005, Davis views weed control as inseparable from soil health.

“They do so many things,” says Davis, who farms in New Kent County. “Providing erosion control, providing something growing all winter to scavenge any nutrients... making nitrogen, especially this year for my corn crop.”

While Rademacher leans on cereal rye for soybeans, Davis centers his program on a cereal rye-vetch system ahead of corn. Both farmers aim for enough biomass to smother weeds while keeping the cash crop competitive and thriving.

Managing the Fine Line Between Weed and Crop Control

The balance is delicate, particularly with corn. Rademacher warns: “As it relates to corn, the line between enough biomass to fight weeds all season long, and the line between that and having no crop at all can be a pretty fine line. It’s pretty easy to have really good weed control, but also really good crop control.”

To avoid tying up nitrogen, Rademacher opts to use wheat or barley ahead of corn rather than the more aggressive cereal rye.

Davis manages these tradeoffs by decoupling his grass and legumes in the spring. He kills the cereal rye early with a grass herbicide to prevent the Carbon-to-Nitrogen (C:N) ratio from becoming too high.

“I don’t want the cereal rye to go that long, because once it gets a hollow stem, it takes a lot of bacteria eating nitrogen to break that hollow stem down,” he explains.

By late March, Davis terminates the cereal rye but feeds the vetch, letting it grow until it blooms. By mid-May, the vetch forms a two-foot-tall mat that suppresses weeds and allows him to scale back on products.

“That’s really where I’ve cut my herbicide program back the most, in my corn rotation with the heavy vetch stand,” he says.

The Biomass Trap and Termination Timing

Both farmers emphasize that covers complement, rather than replace, good chemistry on their fields. Rademacher warns that a “middle ground” of biomass can actually be detrimental.

“There is kind of a point where you’ve got enough biomass that inhibits some of your herbicide from hitting the ground—too much residue, but not quite enough to get really good weed control to replace that impact,” he says.

He is also “hyper vigilant” about the weather during termination, noting that nighttime temperatures should be above 50°F to ensure the plants don’t shut down. He also cautions about the spray mix used. He sometimes sees termination failures when farmers add clay-based residuals like atrazine in poor temperature windows.

Davis scales his herbicide use based on biomass volume. “If you’re planting into [6,000 to 8,000 pounds], you definitely can reduce your herbicide program,” he says. However, “If you have a weak stand of rye... don’t plan on cutting your herbicide program back.”

On a related front, Davis and Rademacher have been able to reduce their insecticide use. After noticing spider webs in his fields 12 years ago, Davis stopped using them entirely. “I haven’t used an insecticide since—not on corn, beans, wheat, pumpkins, anything,” he says.

Rademacher reports that beneficial predators on his farm now control pests like slugs. “We’ve got such a huge beneficial population... because we haven’t used insecticides now on anything going on six or seven years,” he says.

Weed Control As Part Of A System

Both farmers say weed control is now the product of a broader system they’ve adopted: no-till, continuous roots, high-residue covers, and a more complex biological community above- and below-ground.

To get started with cover crops, Rademacher tells farmers to begin where he believes there’s room for error: with soybeans. “I would get cover crops to have soybeans figured out,” he says. “Just plant… whatever [your] local NRCS recommendations are for cereal rye rates.”

Davis would start out using covers ahead of corn, using a focused cereal rye–vetch program and learning to time termination for both weed control and nitrogen. He stresses growing enough biomass to matter, killing the cereal rye before it gets too lignified, and then letting vetch build the mat that suppresses weeds and feeds the crop.

His main advice to farmers is to think long-term. “It takes five or six years before you really start seeing the benefits,” he says. “God didn’t make Earth in one day, so don’t expect miracles in one day.”

Davis and Rademacher shared their experiences incorporating the use of cover crops on their farms during an online GROW farmer forum addressing the topic of using cover crop mixes for weed suppression. GROW stands for Getting Rid Of Weeds. The organization is a scientist-led network coordinating research to help farmers across the U.S. fight herbicide-resistance with a greater diversity of weed control strategies to complement chemical use.