Agronomy

Farmers wanting to hang onto the soil moisture in their fields are struggling to address compaction and ruts where there has been little to no recent rainfall. Anhydrous ammonia applications are also difficult to get sealed in fields where moisture is minimal.

As crops go into bins, growers will be looking to maintain quality until their marketing opportunities improve. Some ongoing management practices are vital to the process.

While many farmers in the state were delighted by the results the 2025 season delivered, that wasn’t the case everywhere. In some areas, Mother Nature delivered a series of agronomic problems that dominoed and turned a potential bin buster crop into one that was average at best by harvest.

Agronomists answer farmer questions about the role of nitrogen and other nutrients in lessening the potential impact of yield robbers such as southern rust and tar spot in corn.

Corn yield champs say annual soil testing is the best way to make sure fields are up to the goal of delivering profitable high yields every season.

The new product also addresses other key issues in soybeans like frogeye leaf spot and septoria brown spot.

With low commodity prices and higher input costs, identifying hybrids that are a good fit for your soil types and environmental conditions is more important than ever – and can give you a leg up on yield performance from the get-go next spring.

With contributing factors ranging from insect pressure to disease and environmental stressors this season, agronomists say farmers face hard decisions on when to combine their crop in affected fields.

Researchers at Purdue spent years working with NASA engineers to figure out how to grow crops on Mars and beyond. Now the data is yielding surprising results.

Microscopic particles improve efficacy and could save farmers money on input costs.