It’s been said high-yielding corn needs 25" of moisture per acre per year. In 2023, when Mother Nature didn't cooperate, management strategies to retain moisture coupled with new traits made a difference at harvest.
Two new studies from Locus Ag and Pivot Bio found the use of biological products consistently increased yields in a variety of crops across a range of growing conditions.
Corn and soybean futures prices are firm to start the week as traders, hedgers, and other market participants look to position ahead of Friday's USDA report.
Some fields have a spot that consistently does not produce, but don't ignore those acres. If 156 acres average 200 bu. per acre, but 4 acres average 20 bu., the yield on the 160-acre field drops to 195.5 bu. per acre.
Compact corn hybrids appear to take winds 50 mph in stride with little greensnap or lodging resulting. However, yield performance hasn’t been as consistent, and technology providers are working to change that.
David Heublein won the conventional, non-irrigated category of the 2023 NCGA yield contest for the state. The amazing yield was grown with only one-third of the total rainfall his fields usually get in a growing season.
With larger-than-expected yield revisions to both corn and soybeans, it leaves one burning question: which states grew such big yields in 2023? USDA NASS released maps and charts to help answer that.
USDA’s final look at crop production for 2023 caught the commodity markets by surprise. The agency increased the final yield estimates for both corn and soybeans, and as a result, prices plummeted on Friday.
From a bottle hunter and a pair of plows crafted by John Deere himself to record yields and the return of monster buck antlers, enjoy some of the fan favorites on AgWeb from the past year.
It’s no surprise those who chase high-yield honors set aside acres for that very purpose. However, there’s something to learn from the management practices that go into growing a record crop.
West Texas is the largest cotton production area in the country, but after battling drought and heat, area farmers say the dryland crop is a failure, and the irrigated acres are only yielding half of normal.
Despite weather concerns sprouting in Brazil, USDA didn’t make any major adjustments to the South American crop in Friday's reports. Increased demand from China and Mexico prompted USDA to trim U.S. ending stocks.
As the costliest pest in the U.S. for soybeans, this breakthrough means there will finally be options to develop varieties with enhanced SCN resistance.
The practice can be useful in some scenarios but not all. Farmers need to evaluate the potential impact on 2024 yield outcomes. Perhaps a bigger concern is how the practice impacts weed management, especially waterhemp.
Neil Lee's cotton dealt with cool weather early on, which stunted the crop. It then turned off hot and dry. At harvest, he was thrilled to find "money bolls" at the bottom of the plant.
After two months of a waning outlook on the ag economy, economists views took a turn in the November Ag Economists’ Monthly Monitor, a survey of nearly 70 ag economists from across the country.
For a lot of farmers, 2023 was a tough growing season and Mother Nature didn't cooperate. But don't let that drive your seed-selection process for next year. Consider these five recommendations instead.
Removing compaction and density layers before transitioning to a vertical system can add 15 bu. to 20 bu. per acre and might lower cost of production, according to Farm Journal Test Plot research.
If you value the benefits starter fertilizer offers, you might like the performance of a starter fertilizer relay system even more. Farm Journal Test Plot data show a relay system + 2x2 placement = $36 per acre ROI.
Various factors impact planting dates, but now's the time to get everything in order so you don't miss the windows of opportunity when they roll around next spring.
East-central Texas farmers battled historic heat, along with no rain during the heart of the growing season. The outlook on the cotton crop was bleak, but one Texas farmer says cotton harvest produced several surprises.
USDA upped its corn yield estimate by nearly 2 bu. to a 174.9 bu. per acre national yield. The agency also increased its demand estimate, which softened the potential blow of such a big jump in production.
Illinois farmer Ryan Myers has increased his 60-bushel-per-acre yield average to 70-plus-bushel averages in just three years. How? By focusing on the details from variety selection to in-season management.
Farmers applying NH3 can maximize their dollars and use of the product by not applying it until soil temperatures are no more than 50 degrees and trending lower, according to Iowa State University Extension.
Ken Ferrie offers five practical agronomic tips you can use during harvest this fall. These practices can help you improve corn performance and yield outcomes across your farm.
The online tool from the SCN Coalition is free and easy to use. It’s backed by research done on more than 25,000 university soybean research plots across the U.S.
The Ag Economists' Monthly Monitor show economists expect USDA to make additional cuts to its yield estimates, but one economist thinks weather worries in South America could be an even bigger story than U.S. yields.
Researchers from UNL, Iowa State University and the China Agricultural University have done what seemed impossible a decade ago: they finished sequencing the entire corn genome, a major breakthrough for yield.
A calibrated monitor usually does a good job of telling you where yield is changing in a field within a hybrid, but it may not tell you exactly how one hybrid is yielding against another.
Yields can take a 5-bu.-per-acre hit as a result of the sickle running so high on stems it cuts off branches and allows them to fall below the deck. Losses can be reduced to 1 bu. per acre with header adjustments.
Both Dan Basse and Chip Nellinger say considering how dry it’s been, crop yields could be falling, and USDA may be forced to make more cuts to the national yield forecasts in upcoming reports.
Some farmers in central Illinois are making yield estimates of 250 to 270 bushels per acre. Ken Ferrie says in many of those cases a more realistic estimate, though disappointing, would be in the 170 to 220 range.
The oilseed crop offers farmers the opportunity to grow three crops in two years. It can be used for sustainable aviation fuel, renewable diesel and animal feed production.
Understanding soybean growth and development can help determine the best stages to maximize untapped yield potential. Consider these six key times and manage soybeans accordingly.
First thing Tuesday, Pro Farmer Tour scouts saw Nebraska irrigated corn with 208 to 250 bu. yields. But a lot could change as they head into dryland corn. In the eastern Corn Belt, scouts are evaluating Indiana crops.
Some of the research now underway at the facility is focused on improving germplasm performance, launching stacked, next-generation differentiated traits and demonstrating regenerative agriculture cropping systems.