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407 articles tagged "Agronomy Tips".
What does the word “stockpile” mean to you? Our understanding of the meaning is to “store away for future use.”
Indiana planting pace in 2023 was one of the fastest on record, which lined up with drought years as well as yield-breaking years. For most of our fields, soybean development in the month of June was summarized in one word – stagnant. Well, at least the aboveground growth seemed to stall out with the dry conditions. Fortunately, these soybeans were rooting down deep rather than expending energy into aboveground growth. If we have our choice of dry June or dry August, we will choose a dry June every time (assuming the roots have some access to moisture). The combination of timely planted soybean with good stand establishment and a dry June sets us up for a nice compact plant. We would rather have a compact plant that has good trifoliate node development and reproductive branches so the water use and photosynthetic efficiencies are optimized during pod development (July-August) and seed[Read More…]
I hope you take more time evaluating what forage species and variety of that species should be purchased than the time taken to buy a vegetable at the grocery store.
In recent years, Indiana has experienced an increase in air quality concerns during the summer due to elevated incidence and severity of wildfires in Canada and the western U.S.
Recent storms which crossed Indiana brought welcome rains to current dry conditions, yet were not without additional challenges, which includes hail damage.
A couple of weeks ago I had conversation with several State of Indiana Farm Service Agency (FSA) employees.
Many farmers in Indiana utilize starter fertilizer applications, specifically applied through the planter and in close proximity to the seed, which are known to provide benefits such as early crop access to necessary nutrients, improved and more rapid plant growth, and reduced grain moisture at harvest.
The weather forecast is desirable for rain the next several days. The following are considerations to heed to improve forage growth and inventory of stored feed for ruminant livestock and equine if the forecast holds true. Inventory current forage resources and routinely determine how much more forage, other than what you have at time of assessment, might be needed to get to spring grazing in 2024. If forage inventory continues to be low despite a return for more usual rainfall, strategize a plan to avoid the stress of an immediate crisis. Keep in mind that hay purchase can be expensive if delayed until late winter. The following link has many points of consideration. (Beef Management Practices: When Forages are in Short Supply Because of Drought). Scout pasture for weed species present and develop a control plan if they are competing with desired forages and/or are poisonous concerns. An excellent resource[Read More…]
The biggest challenge so far this year for Indiana corn production has been the dry conditions experienced throughout the state (Figure 1).
