Crops
On the doorstep of an immediate in-crop use ban, the dicamba issue is hanging in limbo after a roller coaster ride.
Randy Dowdy, Perry Galloway, David Hula, Kevin Matthews and Matt Miles have consistently produced some of the strongest yields in the history of agriculture. The five friends are separated by 1,000 miles of farmland, yet share a belief that today’s competitor may be tomorrow’s helping hand.
In 2014, Nathan Reed fought for financial breath even after skinning inputs one by one. No matter how he shifted the figures, the pencil always pointed to the glaring expense of biotech seed. With an eye on cost control, he began switching portions of his ground to non-GMO production supported by a minimum till cover crop scheme, and the change led to farm-wide profitability.
Secrecy is farming’s seductive mistress, but concealing production tips isn’t a formula for long-term success, according to some top-yielding producers.
A rollercoaster dicamba ride passed a major benchmark as the Arkansas State Plant Board (ASPB) voted to recommend an emergency dicamba ban.
Reports of dicamba drift incidents are pouring in and producer concerns are mounting, particularly with the echoes of 2016 still fresh across farmland. Pared down, the damage is alarming and there are plenty of passes left in the spray season.
As of June 26, the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) is investigating 27 alleged dicamba-related drift incidents. Looking a year backward, the TDA had received only three cases of dicamba-related drift by June 26, 2016.
After an early planting kick-start to the crop season, torrential rains blanketed northeast Arkansas and Missouri Bootheel farmland in late April and early May. The flood disaster raises a tangle of questions about crop insurance, risk and water management.
When Jack Shoup refused to pay late fees to the Iowa Soybean Association on tardy checkoff payments as the first purchaser of grain at Dinsdale Elevator, he drew a straight line in his Reinbeck dirt and prepared for a legal battle.
U.S. agriculture has a tremendous amount of skin at stake in an off-the-radar fight that may impact the future of groundwater regulations at federal, state and private levels.
Rob Sharkey’s Shark Farmer podcast is finding a hungry audience in agriculture and beyond, attracted by the take-no-prisoners attitude of his weekly show.
With alarm bells ringing in multiple states over confirmed PPO-resistant pigweed, is the weed control cavalry expected in soybean fields anytime soon? Bolstered by new technologies, help might be on the way within the next five years.
Artificial intelligence recognizes crop, targets weeds
Waterhemp has piled on genetic muscle and built documented resistance to herbicides from six separate site of action groups in Illinois. Yet, even more alarming are the consequences of stacked resistance in waterhemp. Once resistance begins stacking, what’s the snowball effect of a weed juggernaut?
Two Bootheel farmers with a match of tousled hair, blue eyes and easy manner may be the most unique brother and sister farming operation in the United States.
Will Harris was delighted when the first pair of bald eagles arrived on his farm in 2011. Six years and 80 eagles later, Harris faces annual six-figure poultry losses and major FSA litigation.
Greenhouse and field trials have Arkansas weed scientists looking for answers
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.