2013 Purdue Corn and Soybean Field Trials

I was in a meeting today where someone asked me if Purdue's Hybrid Corn and Soybean Trial results had been published. In the process of switching offices I never posted this information. This may be a bit late as many of you have likely already completed your seed orders however the following link is to the trial results:

2013 Purdue Corn and Soybean Performance Trial Results

Farm Drainage Program Report

The Clinton County Extension Service with support from the Clinton County Farm Bureau and Clinton County Soil and Water Conservation District hosted a program on August 8, 2013, "Farm Drainage for the Environment and for Profit."

This was a good program and we had about 50 people in attendance in the morning and a few more popped in for the afternoon (when PARP credit was offered). As usual, I had to perform my duties as host so I only caught about half of the programs but I'll report on what I have notes on.

Jane Frankenberger from the Purdue Ag Engineering Department opened with, "Making Farm Drainage Decisions." I don't have a lot of notes from this one as I was still scrambling around but the two items I did jot down were that in a long-term study they've been doing at the Southeast Purdue Ag Center (SEPAC) in Jennings County tile drainage at 66' spacings had shown basically the same yield response as tile spaced at either 33' or 16'. Another practice she's been working on is called Drainage Water Management. This document explains this far better than I can but basically a structure is installed within the tile system where you can close off the flow of water out of the tile and conserve water for use in the field. The item I noted for this is that each structure can control water for about 2' of field slope from where it's installed. Within that area the long-term yield impact ranges from 5.8% to 9.8% depending on which study you look at.

Clinton County Surveyor Dan Sheets was up next with "Clinton County Drainage Permitting." Dan talked about how any time a farmer ties into a county drainage structure, either field tile or an open ditch, you need to contact the Surveyor's office BEFORE you start work on the project. There is a permitting process and fee which is not too much and far less than the fine (and costs of possibly having to redo the system) if you do work without getting one. The Surveyor's Office would like to be notified when you're doing the work so they can inspect where it outlets into the county system and also so they can GPS it. The key points I took away is that they want you to use sub-mains and not make too many outlets into the county system. The big message is that county drainage is a public utility owned by the taxpayers and needs to be treated like any other public system.

The next speaker was Justin Schneider, formerly Staff Attorney and now Director of Public Policy for Indiana Farm Bureau speaking on, "Legal Aspects of Farm Drainage." I'm going to leave this alone as I simply don't have the space here to fully discuss it but if you're interested in one perspective, you can take a look at this paper by Gerald Harrison of the Purdue Ag Economics Department.

After lunch Eileen Kladivko of the Purdue Agronomy Department spoke on, "Tile Drainage and Nitrogen Management." In contrast to every other presentation, I have a full page of notes for this one so I'll hit a few highlights. Much of this presentation focused on studies Eileen has been involved with at SEPAC for an extended period of time. First, Nitrate is not lost from the system in July-September. The vast majority of it is lost from November through May. It's important to note that this is different from studies done farther North. For example, in Minnesota 100% of Nitrogen is lost in April-June as before this the ground is frozen and no water flows through field tile. This is not the case most years in Indiana.

The key variable here is the amount of water which flows through the tile. The concentration of Nitrogen in the water is the same whether it's a wet or dry year, just that in wet years the quantity of water is much greater so more N is lost. Also, in recent years they've been experimenting with cover crops and fields with cover crops show a reduction of 5-20 lbs per acre per year over fields without. Studies in Iowa show that cover crops reduced Nitrogen loss from about 45 lb/ac/yr to about 18. So cover crops do seem to help conserve Nitrogen.

Ben Reinhart from the Clinton County SWCD and Kerry Smith from Howard County NRCS gave the final presentation, "Tillage and Conservation Cropping Systems for Drainage, Fertility and Weed Control." This was another presentation where I took very few notes however Kerry did some demonstrations showing how effective cover crops and no-till are at reducing erosion. Ben's discussion was on some of the practices such as no-till and cover crops which increase water holding capacity of soil and may reduce the need for drainage.

I may not have taken many notes for this session but I did get a nice picture of Kerry Smith and two assistants (one is Tom McKinney, I didn't catch the name of the other gentleman) demonstrating soil erosion differences between no-till and conventionally tilled fields.

The final presenter for the day was myself talking about Pesticide Drift (this was different from what was on the agenda). My main point was that I've been receiving a fair amount of drift complaints in the office this year and farmers need to be willing to talk to their non-farmer neighbors. If you aren't and something happens, instead of calling you about it, their call might be to the State Chemist's.

I have a page up on our Extension Office website which includes PDF's of some of the presentations. I encourage you to take a look at them when you get the chance. Thanks again to Farm Bureau and the SWCD for their sponsorship of the program.

Farm Drainage Program Page

Irrigation Workshop Report

I want to give at least a little bit of information from the January 22 Irrigation Workshop. First I'll point out that one of my duties was to serve as host of the program so I was able to devote my full attention to no more than half of it, at best, as I had to spend some time distributing handouts, loading presentations onto the computer and just chatting with others involved.

But I was able to pick up a few things. The first thing is to direct people to Lyndon Kelley's page of irrigation resources. Seriously, if you're interested in this, go there now. I'll wait.

A few items of note besides this. First, if you're getting started in irrigation, once you've analyzed the economics, the next step is to determine if you have water. Mark Basch from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources talked about this and said that in Central Indiana, we have sufficient groundwater. By and large, by installing irrigation you don't need to be worried about somehow causing a community-wide drought. Now you may negatively impact wells of some neighbors, particularly those with shallow wells, but the fears about this are greater than the reality. In many cases when someone's well goes dry and they blame a large capacity water user, investigators will look five miles away and find that similar sorts of wells are going dry when there isn't any irrigation going on nearby. In essence, in many of these cases people's wells go dry during a drought because of the drought, not nearby irrigation. This doesn't mean that irrigation never has an impact, just that this doesn't take place nearly as often as rumor would have you believe.

However, even though we have pretty good groundwater supplies in Central Indiana, this does not mean that you'll be able to find sufficent water to irrigate with just anywhere. Mike Chapman from Peerless-Midwest discussed how he investigates to determine if a well will be able to deliver the 300 gallons per minute necessary to irrigate with. While there are some geographic guidelines which will suggest where are good places to look, only by boring a test well can you be sure. One of the issues is that in Clinton County there just aren't that many large capacity wells in use. In some areas there may be a well every mile and you can be pretty sure nearby areas have sufficient water but that isn't the case here. IDNR's Water Well Record Database is a good place to start checking. Select the "Enhanced Water Well Viewer" link for an online map.

Screenshot of Large Capacity Wells in Clinton County from the DNR Water Well Viewer

I'll add one other personal note. From an efficiency perspective, once you've drilled a large capacity well, installed pumping equipment and provided power to the site, it makes sense to irrigate as much ground as possible. While we have some large fields in Clinton County of 160 acres or more under one owner, this has become the exception rather than the rule. Give some thought to partnering with a neighboring farmer to share costs and operate more efficiently, at least initially, if you're going to be irrigating smaller parcels.

I have heard less discussion about irrigation over the winter than I did last summer and fall however if you're interested you should look at Lyndon's web page. There is another Irrigation Program scheduled for February 12 in Vincennes. I don't have any additional information on it but you can contact the Knox County Extension Office to find out more about it.

Purdue Corn and Soybean Trials

A quick post to mention that the Purdue Corn and Soybean Trial results are available at the following link.

2012 Purdue Corn and Soybean Trials

Upcoming Irrigation Workshop

I apologize for not posting lately. With my covering 4-H in Clinton County it seems like this blog has been the main casualty of these extra duties. However I have several activities which I want to mention.

I've set up an Irrigation Workshop on Tuesday, January 22 at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds in Lafayette. This will be an all-day program primarily featuring Lyndon Kelley, Extension Irrigation Specialist. We will be covering a variety of topics that day and I encourage you to attend if you’ve given any thought to installing irrigation on your operation.

Lyndon has done a lot of irrigation work in Northern Indiana and I've been told he puts on an excellent program. Click this link for the program flyer and registration information.

Grain Quality Issues in Corn

As I'm sure you're aware, 2012 is shaping up as another year where we may encounter grain quality issues with corn. This is always a risk with severe drought stress, particularly if that stress took place during pollination. While Clinton County isn't in as bad shape as many other places, with the recent wetter weather just as harvest is starting up, I'm sure we'll run into it. Every grain buyer in the area, so far as I know, is testing for Aflatoxin, an indication that they've found it in some loads.

Purdue has a web page on this topic with a great deal of information: Managing Moldy Corn

Here are a few of the key concepts as you go into harvest. Keep in mind most of these these (there are a couple of exceptions) won't help with Aflatoxin already present; they help get rid of the Aspergillus fungus which produces Aflatoxin.

One key is minimizing damaged kernels. This corn crop is drying down fast as it's maturing at such an early date. If you think you're at risk for Aflatoxin, make sure you get in the field early enough to keep from having too many damaged kernels and keep fines down to a minimum.

Dry corn a bit more than usual if you plan to store it. If you usually store at 15.5%, think about storing at 14 or 14.5. Also, cool your grain as quickly as possible (an obvious problem in mid-September) without creating moisture issues from condensation. Aspergillus growth is greatly reduced at temperatures below 55 degrees.

Broken kernels and fines generally contain promote fungal activity. If possible, screen your grain before putting it in the bin (or, if you think there's an issue, before taking grain to the elevator). If you can't do this, "core" your bin once it's in storage.

Aflatoxin can cause Human health issues so be careful about breathing in dust. Consider wearing a mask or respirator and change your clothes after handling grain.

USDA's Risk Management Agency has put together a list of Eastern Corn Belt labs which will test for Aflatoxin. You can find that in this publication. Purdue's Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab will also test for it. I don't know why, but they aren't on the list of certified labs in the USDA publication so check with your insurance agent if you're testing for insurance purposes.

If you think you have Aflatoxin, contact your crop insurance agent before you harvest.

Kudzu Bug

Last week I was in Charleston, South Carolina at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents (NACAA) Annual Meeting. Like most conferences there was a social aspect to it but there was a fair amount of educational content too.

One of the most interesting training opportunities I participated in was a tour of South Carolina's Coastal Plains Agriculture. I expected it to be interesting. What I didn't expect was to find it highly relevant to Indiana.

One of the research trials, being conducted by Dr. Jeremy Greene of Clemson University at their Edisto Research Farm, was on the kudzu bug, Megacopta cribraria. I had heard of this insect, vaguely, but hadn't paid much attention to it. I was much more alert after seeing it in action.

Kudzu bug first appeared in the US in 2009 in 9 counties in northern Georgia. Over the next three years it spread to South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, and Mississippi. The kudzu bug is a voracious feeder on kudzu and can reduce its growth by as much as a third, which is good. However it also feeds on soybeans and can reduce yields by up to 80% if left untreated.

This is an unwanted invader and every time researchers find out more about it, it gets a little worse for the midwest. Initially they believed it required kudzu as a host to complete its life cycle. It does not. It gets along just fine living off soybeans and overwintering. The second discovery is that while Dr. Greene believes there probably is a place where it's too cold for this pest to overwinter, he doesn't think this is Indiana. The kudzu bug overwinters as an adult and hides under tree bark, soil residue, grass and hay. In the spring the female emerges, lays her eggs on the underside of leaves and the nymphs hatch and begin to feed.

The kudzu bug nymph is not a pod feeder or defoliator but a stem feeder. It latches onto the stem and starts sucking the juice out of it. At the Edisto Farm test plot, the nymphs were absolutely double parked on the stems.

Kudzu Bug Nymphs on Soybeans. Thanks to Laura Watts of Penn State for sending me some photos (I forgot to bring my camera).

There are effective treatments for this pest and hopefully these can be mixed with herbicide applications. Kudzu bug certainly won't have any impact on us for this year and it would have to move a long way to be a problem in 2013. However it appears to be coming and from the research findings so far, Indiana winters won't be a problem for it.

You can find additional information at the Kudzu Bug page. Doug Johnson from the University of Kentucky also recently posted about it.

Review of July 13 Drought Program

I'm currently in South Carolina at the National Association of County Agricultural Agents Annual Meeting but I would like to get out a summary of the Drought Program, "Making Decisions in a Difficult Crop Year," held last Friday at the Clinton County Fair before too much time passes by.

Purdue Ag Economist Chris Hurt discussed economics and I don't think he had any big surprises - as yield projections drop, prices will be rising. He showed a chart demonstrating that in many poor crop years producers more than make up the revenue lost by reduced production through higher prices. I'm looking at the December futures which stands at $7.84 compared with it being just a tick above $5.00 in May. That's already an increase of over 50% and Chris believes that $10 corn and $20 beans are both possible this year - his exact words were, "It's not crazy to talk about these prices." For Clinton County, even now it looks like we'll have some sort of crop so we should be able to capture the price change (if you haven't sold it yet). That's better than a lot of fields in southern Indiana and Illinois.

One of the differences from past short crop years is how tight stocks are. In the past there was often an early, rapid increase in price followed by a leveling off or even a decline shortly afterwards.. Chris doesn't think this is very likely given the scarcity of corn in storage.

Brittany Shepherd from the Clinton County Farm Service Agency talked about forms of assistance available from USDA. It's important to note that as I type this, Clinton County is not yet a declared disaster area. If we reach D3 on the US Drought Monitor we will automatically become an Ag Disaster County (I think there's a very good chance we get there tomorrow). We are contiguous to Howard County which makes us eligible for some forms of relief. Clinton County farmers are eligible to apply for emergency loans whaich have an interest rate of 2.25%. You cannot hay or graze CRP acres at this time though this may change soon. However even if CRP is released, certain kinds of ground will not be eligible for haying/grazing and you would need to wait until after August 1.

The key in this is that before you do anything with CRP, contact the Farm Service Agency and make sure it's OK.

Matt Weaver from Crop Insurance Specialists discussed some insurance aspects. There are two key points I want to repeat. First, before doing anything beyond normal farming practices with insured acres, contact your insurance agent. Second, all valid crop insurance claims will be paid. Crop insurance is a federally backed program. This doesn't mean they pay for all losses - those are the responsibbility of the insurance company. However if an insurance company can't make the payments, then the federal government steps in. In 2008 a large insurance company went under and the government made sure payments were made.

Rod Miller from Crop Fertility Specialists talked about conditions he's been seeing and implications for future inputs. Spider mites are becoming a serious issue and it's important for farmers to be scouting their bean fields. In this kind of year, spider mites can devastate a crop. Fungicide applications are less certain. As dry as it is, there really isn't much disease out there. There have been applications made to both corn and soybeans to improve overall crop performance, plant health, photosynthesis, etc. I'll offer my obligatory note that Purdue has not found a consistent enough yield response to recommend this practice.

Setting that aside, right now you have beans that are almost in a holding pattern biologically and corn which has its leaves tightly rolled by noon many days. In each of these cases, the plant will not be absorbing the applications very well, or utilizing it in the plant. In particular, if someone sprays when corn leaves are rolled up, the spray doesn't get onto the surface of the leaf. Rod said you absolutely shouldn't be spraying on corn which is rolling like this so any applications that are made should be done in the morning.

I offered just a couple of notes which I'll repeat here. Purdue Soybean Specialist Shaun Casteel compared a couple of previous drought years and came up with an interesting finding. In 1988 corn yields were down over 40% from trend yields and beans were down about 30% in Indiana. In 1991 corn was down 29% but beans were only down 2%. Shaun looked at the weather for those two years and found it was very similar with one exception. In 1988 early August had temperatures from 100-105 degrees and no rain. In 1991 temperatures were in the lower 90's and there was some water. There is still time for soybeans to respond significantly to some rains. Unlike corn where rain will mainly keep things from getting worse, beans can still improve their yield potential.

While we don't have many livestock producers in Clinton County who feed forage we do have some. In southern Indiana some farmers have started to abandon corn and are mowing it either for silage or hay. There is an issue with nitrate levels, particularly in the lower section of the corn stalks. Before purchasing silage or hay from corn, make sure you have it nitrate tested. Also, keep in mind that when we're talking about silage from a failed corn crop, you have corn with no ears. It will not have the same feed value as corn silage normally would. This is important both from a pricing perspective and in calculating rations. The "book values" for corn silage in rations won't work so again, make sure you have it tested so you know what you're feeding.

I haven't yet seen a field in Clinton County which I think, as of now, won't make some sort of crop, however if we do get to that point and you decide to chop/mow your corn for forage, the same holds true for you as a forage producer; test your corn, both for nitrate levels and for its nutritional value.

Chris Hurt Drought and Contracts Article

When I talked to Chris Hurt yesterday he told me he'd be coming out with an article on contract strategies during a short crop year. I had no idea it would be this fast or I might have held off on the post I put up yesterday. The link to his article is below.

Chris Hurt Drought & Contracts Article

Drought, Weather and Contracts

A couple of issues have started being talked about related to the drought which I want to mention. First is crop prices, particularly corn. While prices have rallied a bit over the past few days, the problem is that in this week's crop progress report, Iowa's corn crop is still rated 68% good to excellent, Minnesota's is 83% good to excellent and Nebraska's is 60% good to excellent. While Indiana and Illinois are reporting much worse conditions, you can see that across a good chunk of the corn belt things still look pretty good. I was going to wait until after Friday's grain stocks report to say anything because that could have a substantial impact but based purely on the crop conditions report a radical price increase in corn looks unlikely in the short term.

And those three states I mentioned have been getting rain. Below is a screenshot of today's (June 27, 2012) 7-day precipitation analysis from the National Weather service. You can see where the greens and yellows are.

Another issue that is starting to be talked about is filling contracts if there's a radical yield reduction, which is looking more likely every day. I am not a marketing guru so I'll refer you to this 2010 publication from the University of Maryland. An article on grain contracts starts on page 11.

Link to 2010 University of Maryland Drought Handbook for Grain/Crop Producers

I don't have a lot to add to this publication. Chris Hurt from Purdue is working on developing some articles on this and other drought-related issues and I'll get that information out once it's available. There are two things I want to emphasize from this publication. First is that the most important thing is to talk your buyer about what options are available. Second, the stronger your position, the less expensive it will probably be for you to make changes or buy out of your contract. The article illustrates this fairly well with the tables on pages 12 and 13. While it may be a bit early to start changing contracts, I don't think it's too early to start thinking about your options if this becomes necessary.

Drought Update 2

This isn't so much an update as a suggestion that folks take a look at a recent article by Bob Nielsen regarding current crop conditions. With temperatures forecast for over a hundred degrees on Thursday, I think we all know that the impact on corn that's received almost no rain and has just started tasselling could be devastating. At least the markets are starting to respond.

There was a second drought conference call this morning I wasn't able to participate in. If I hear anything new from this I'll make another post.

Bob Nielsen article.

Purdue Agronomy Drought Information Page

Bob Nielsen has recently updated a page which has links to drought-related information. The initial page looks pretty plain but once, for example, you click on the "Drought & row crops" link you'll find a lot of information.

Purdue Drought Information Page

Drought Update 1

I just finished listening in on a Purdue conference call addressing the dry conditions we've been having over the last month. To offer a summary:

Corn: According to Bob Nielsen while corn has been hurt some, this isn't critical in most fields yet. He believes that with good rains beginning in the next few days and continuing through the growing season we could still achieve trend yields. As a general statement covering the whole state he thinks the critical period this year will be during pollination from late June through the third week in July, a week or so earlier than usual. In Clinton County I think we're looking at the first two weeks in July. The afternoon leaf rolling we're seeing right now, while a symptom of stress, doesn't indicate a critical yield loss at this time.

Soybeans: Soybean specialist Shaun Casteel says that beans are mostly in a holding pattern right now but should be able to compensate if rains come. We all know that beans can recover fairly well from drought stress, so long as it rains at some point. If plants are severely stressed they may even begin to flower very early but even with flowering beans, if rain comes they will drop those flowers and resumed vegetative growth. Obviously, if they get all the way to setting pods due to this things change. For double crop beans Shaun recommends holding off seeding after wheat in hopes of receiving some moisture but if for some reason you absolutely have to get in the field and it's still dry, you should look at raising your seeding rate to account for some emergence problems which are likely to occur.

Pests: Christian Krupke from the Purdue Entomology Department discussed spider mites in soybeans. Spider mites are a pest we usually don't worry much about as a healthy plant outgrows damage but they can devastate plants which are basically holding as they are now. So far there haven't been many reports of this (I haven't heard of any here) but if the dry weather continues it's hard to believe this won't be a problem before long. Look for bronzing of leaves, beginning at field borders and think about doing some scouting. He has posted a Youtube video which shows how to scout for mites.

Also, if you have Soybean Cyst Nematode issues, this sort of year really brings these out. There's nothing to be done about it for this growing season but if you identify areas where you may have a problem, you can make some decisions about addressing it for next year. Look for plants that aren't growing well (nothing's growing well right now but these would be even worse) and are turning yellow. Damaged areas in a field are typically oval or circular in shape.

Additional Dry Weather in Corn Information

Bob Nielsen put together an article yesterday on his Chat 'n Chew Cafe website with a bit more information on the impact of hot and dry weather on early corn. This adds a bit to my earlier post on dry weather and corn which looked at dryness in and of itself without considering heat impacts.

In essence, Bob is concerned about the impact of the dry weather and in particular some of the heat we've had on the root development of young corn. Not sure there's a lot that can be done unless you have irrigation.

One article I haven't seen is on the accumulative stress of quickly transitioning from periods with nights in the 40's to ones with days in the 90's. If I come across something on this I'll post it.

Impact of Dry Weather on Early Corn

Since the rain last night missed us for the most part, I think it's worth taking a look at how early season dryness impacts corn development. Some years ago (unfortunately this now translates to a few decades ago) when I worked in Nebraska folks didn't worry much about the early season dryness and there was plenty of 7-ft corn which made pretty good yields (this being relative as 150 bu was pretty good). In any case, they generally didn't turn the irrigation on until June, whatever the weather.

Chad Lee and John Grove from the University of Kentucky posted an interesting article a couple of weeks ago on this. In essence, until V6, so long as the plants don't actually burn up, there's little impact from early season dryness. From that point on it starts to become a problem.

Aspects not covered in this article include things like outgrowing potential cutworm damage. Fortunately, while it seems like it would be an ideal year for cutworm damage, I haven't heard of any problems in Clinton County.

Thoughts on the 2011-12 Unwinter

I've wanted to post on the strange weather we saw this winter but haven't had a lot to add to what everyone else has been saying. In particular there's been a lot of discussion on possible insect impacts.

My personal feeling is that it will be hard to predict if we'll see increased insect pressure this year. Most of the overwintering insects have adapted to survive here so the sheer numbers may not be too different (and they may encounter disease and predation which they aren't adapted to) though emergence date will obviously change. I haven't heard of any insects which don't usually overwinter here surviving however there may be some early arrivals. What I think is more likely is that there may be additional generations and that the standard timing for insect impacts will be very different from usual. Again, nothing revolutionary or which you can't find in a lot of other places from people who know more than I. I think the key will be that this year will place an additional premium on keeping informed and up to date on what's going on. Purdue's Pest and Crop Newsletter is one good resource. Another is Bob Nielsen's site where he summarizes crop information from various sources - including for crops other than corn.

There isn't a lot of this grown in Clinton County but one thing I've been struck by is how quickly alfalfa is coming along. Growing Degree Day(GDD) accumulation is one way of determining when to make your first cutting and we're already close to 300 in Central Indiana. Craig Thomas from Michigan State University recently posted an article discussing the use of GDD's to determine when to harvest. There's a good chance this will be a four-cutting year if we get rain, as long as you make your first cutting in a timely manner.

In order to track Growing Degree Day accumulation a good resource is the GDD Tracker.

Interesting Article on Corn Seeding Rates

Purdue Extension Agronomist and Corn Specialist Bob Nielsen has posted an interesting article on corn seeding rates on his Chat 'n Chew Cafe. I encourage you to take a look at it, particularly if you're thinking about substantially changing your rates in the coming year.

Soil Health Workshop

The Greater Wabash River RC&D will be sponsoring a Soil Health Workshop on Thursday, March 1. The workshop will be held at the Beck Center at the Purdue Agronomy Center for Research and Education on US 52 in West Lafayette. The two main areas of focus for the day will be on cover crops and drainage, including field tile.

This Workshop is being held immediately following a meeting of the Midwest Cover Crops Council on February 28 and 29. For a detailed agenda and registration information, go to the MWCC web page. A brochure and registration form is on that page. There is also a detailed agenda. You can register for the entire three days or plan on just attending for one. The registration deadline is February 14.

Purdue Corn and Soybean Trials Results Available

The results from the 2011 Purdue Corn and Soybean Performance Trials are available at the link below. We no longer receive a hard copy to distribute so people are asked to access the information online. It is a fairly large file.

2011 Purdue Corn and Soybean Performance Trials

Fall Tillage Advice

Now that harvest is nearing completion folks will start thinking about preparing for next year. Every year I see a fair amount of what I would call "recreational tillage" going on. Sometimes fall tillage is desirable and even necessary, however I encourage you to consider the costs and benefits before firing up the tractor.

Tony Vyn from Purdue Agronomy has a very good article in Ag Answers on areas to consider in making tillage decisions. I encourage you to take a look at it.

Tony Vyn article from Ag Answers.