Crops
A dicamba cloud rolled across U.S. agriculture in 2016 and turned the crop season into a high-stakes waiting game as producers wondered whose soybean crop would cup and when more symptoms would appear.
Mikey Taylor cracks 100-bu. soybeans, while waiting for label approval
In a farming age where the grip of Palmer amaranth intensifies and expands each season, dicamba controversy is exploding beyond fields of Monsanto’s Xtend soybeans.
Dee River Ranch features a whole-farm irrigation system fed by a 110-acre reservoir. Five 150-hp pumps supply water to 18 pivots and one corner unit across 2,800 acres of corn and soybeans. The results since 2011? Corn profits ranging from $144-$1,093 per acre over non-irrigated ground, and soybean profits hovering between $115-215 per acre over non-irrigated ground.
A driver weed with no equals, Palmer amaranth has changed the chemical game and forced producers into the rows to chase down escapes.
Natural rubber crops are a possible market for U.S. agriculture
Alec Horton begins every wheat crop aiming for 100 bu. per acre dryland yield through seed treatments, proper seeding rates, tiller promotion, vegetative growth reduction and moisture conservation. However, he didn’t see a 121.48-bushel bin buster in the cards when he planted “Joe” in the fall of 2015.
Questions about crop response and yield increase.
Macronutrients and tissue testing are gospel in many parts of agriculture, but receiving a consistent, positive yield return on foliar-applied nutrients isn’t backed by replicated research, according to University of Arkansas Extension personnel.
Variety selection, precise management and optimal environment are grower’s premium.
The Australian-based Harrington Seed Destructor is a weed seed’s nightmare
Despite a tepid forecast, cotton growers won’t “spit the bit” in 2017, particularly with no safe haven crop in sight, but rice producers may be in for a significant acreage dip.
Look to the sky—research finds resistant pigweed spread by waterfowl
“Made in the U.S.A.” has never looked or felt so fine. The father-daughter team of Mark Yeager and Anna Brakefield is taking cotton from farm to table, except with a “seed to sheets” twist.
Randy Dowdy shattered soybean records in 2016 after a 171.7 bu. per acre yield with a UniSouth Genetics 74A74 variety. Dowdy’s corn was also exceptional, with four separate AgriGold varieties each significantly surpassing the 450 bu. per acre mark. Here’s how he did it.
Z-Trap 1 is an electronic insect trap allowing for remote monitoring of pest problems. The automated process of capturing and counting insects carries the potential for labor savings and greater accuracy of pesticide applications.
A field of weeds can pay better than a field of corn, and costs almost nothing to produce. No inputs, no sweat equity, no management, no harvest, but plenty of profit in a scheme plucking millions from the pockets of U.S. taxpayers. Percy Carroll and a growing number of Texas farmers say a crop insurance racket is hiding in plain sight.
With yields consistently bouncing above 100 bu. per acre, crop consultant Robb Dedman is among the best cornermen in the business. From 2013-16, Dedman eclipsed 100-plus bu. five times in four consecutive years in three separate Arkansas counties, with five different varieties.
Harry Stephens is literally burning weed seed to save money and boost yield on his ground. Narrow windrow burning has arrived on U.S. farmland.
When a producer laces the gloves and climbs in the ring for soybean combat, a capable cornerman is vital.
Ducks are a hunter’s sweetest dream, but can be a farmer’s nightmare akin to flying time bombs expelling rapid-fire payloads of resistant weed seed. Wonder where the next pigweed outbreak will come from? Listen for quacks and honks, and look up. Waterfowl may be a significant source of resistant weed spread.
The big deer of Boone and Crockett tell a soybean tale. A proper soybean variety, served on a food plot plate, is a Cadillac protein source for deer. When deer walk into an Eagle Seed soybean plots, the kitchen is always open and stocked.
