Retail Management

High-yield growers David Hula and Randy Dowdy say three things deserve your sharpest focus now: your planter, fertility program and seed.

A new multi-state monitoring network using unique diagnostic tools is hard at work, identifying herbicide-resistant weed populations faster so farmers can get a leg up on control before the problem gets totally out of hand.

Ken Ferrie gives some practical tips on how you can rely more on facts and less on your gut to reduce management mistakes and achieve better cropping outcomes.

Confirmed populations of glufosinate-resistant waterhemp are in Illinois with suspected resistance reported in at least six other states. Weed scientists say how farmers respond now will determine how long the chemistry remains a reliable tool.

The fungal disease has spread to fields in at least seven states since 2018, including three new ones just this year. Once established, the pathogen is nearly impossible to eradicate, Extension plant pathologists report.

Number of bushels per acre is high on their list of priorities, but it’s not necessarily their No. 1 concern going into 2026.

Both products have been registered for use by the EPA, with one of them featuring a novel active ingredient.

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.

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.