Minnesota Crop News

Liz Stahl, Extension Educator – Crops and Axel Garcia y Garcia, Sustainable Cropping Systems Specialist When farmers are faced with a crop failure due to severe hail or excessive water, or conditions prevent planting in the first place, seeding cover crops on these acres can help control weeds and protect soil from erosion as well as provide other soil health benefits. A cover crop can also help reduce or prevent fallow syndrome from impacting crop yield the following year. See Reduce the risk of fallow syndrome with cover crops and How to prevent fallow syndrome in corn for more information. Cover crops varied dramatically in the amount of biomass produced when seeded on July 12 at the SWROC, Lamberton. Cover crop and seeding rate are displayed. Photos were taken a month after seeding (August 12, 2019). Photo by Axel Garcia y Garcia. Study background In 2019 in response to an unprecedented level of prevent plant acres, a trial was initiated at the Southwest Research an

Seth Naeve, Extension soybean agronomist, Dave Nicolai, Extension educator and Liz Stahl, Extension educator Updated and adapted from various postings by Jeff Coulter, Extension Agronomist, Seth Naeve, Extension Agronomist and Dave Nicolai, Extension Educator Hail-damaged soybean from July 11, 2020. On Saturday July 11, 2020, a routine summer thunderstorm spawned severe weather across an exceptionally long streak in western Minnesota. With high winds and rain, a significant swath of large hail fell from near Willmar and continued into Nicollet County leaving devastated corn, soybean, and sugarbeet crops in a two- to six-mile-wide path. Hail as large as 2.5 inches in diameter was reported in areas of southwestern Minnesota as well, including a stretch in Jackson County, resulting in significant crop damage. With an early planting season and unseasonably warm temperatures in late June and early July, the corn and soybean crops are developmentally more advanced relative to rec

By: Fabian Fernandez, Extension nitrogen management specialist Some farmers wonder about nitrogen applications for corn late in the season, even after the tassel emerges, as a way to increase yield. The basic thinking is that the crop still needs to take up half of its total nitrogen at this point in the growing season. The truth is, in locations with a shorter growing season like Minnesota, we have no evidence to suggest that post-tassel nitrogen applications provide a yield benefit. Further, recent research evaluating nitrogen application timing and its effect on different soil types across Minnesota showed that, except for irrigated sandy soils, applications around the V12 development stage never produced better yields than a pre-plant only or pre-plant plus sidedress application by V8. In some situations, the yield with the later application was similar, but in some fields, a late-season nitrogen application actually ended up reducing corn yield compared to earlier applica