Minnesota Crop News

 Phyllis Bongard, Extension content development and communications specialist As the Strategic Farming: Field Notes summer season wrapped up, small grains harvest, drought-stressed corn for silage, and final alfalfa cutting strategies were topics of this last session. Dr. Craig Sheaffer , Extension forage agronomist, and Jochum Wiersma, Extension small grains specialist, joined moderators Anthony Hanson and Nathan Drewitz, Extension educators, on August 24th to discuss the issues. Forage update Outlook While variability in weather and crop conditions is typical for Minnesota, recent rain patterns have led to good alfalfa regrowth going into the fall. What should growers consider when balancing forage needs against a healthy stand? Timing final alfalfa cutting The lowest risk approach for optimizing winterhardiness is to avoid taking any cuttings after the 1st week of September. Because alfalfa depends on a fall dormancy period to prepare for winter, harvest during this critical p...

Small grains harvest started in earnest in the Red River Valley last week. Initial yield reports have exceeded my expectations. The test weight and quality also appear to be good with little to no evidence so far of scabby kernels in the harvested grain (and therefore no concerns about DON) However, there are a number of other issues that concern me and that I like to bring to your attention: Wheat Stem Sawfly (WSS) – The first reports of WSS damage suggest to me that the area with affected fields continues to expand, with WSS having reached the Canadian border in the northern valley.  While you are harvesting, keep on the lookout for severely lodged areas along the edges of the field where you did not see lodging earlier this season. Please inform me if you find the telltale razor-cut straw in these lodged areas.

By: Bryan Runck, Vasu Sharma, Taylor Becker, Paul Senne, Jesse Erdman Running an irrigated farm is hard business, requiring daily management of sprinklers, pivots, and drip lines to deliver optimal amounts of water to a growing crop. The Irrigation Management Assistant has been helping growers know how much water to apply since 2016 in the Central Sand Plains of Minnesota. Now, with new funding from Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund (ENRTF), the University of Minnesota is partnering with RESPEC – a consultancy focused on digital tools for engineering and agriculture – and multiple Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCD’s) to update the application so it can support more irrigators across Minnesota. This new funding will allow us to continue to preserve the privacy of irrigators while bringing updated data and modeling to irrigation scheduling.  Access the IMA Tool at  http://ima.respec.com . Background Since 2002, the use of groundwater for irrigation has incr...

Angie Peltier, Extension educator - crops Each year various crop tours crisscross the Midwest to estimate corn and soybean yields. In anticipation of these taking place soon, the August 17th Field Notes session discussed what the Minnesota corn and soybean crops have been through, what they're forecasted to encounter, and how this might affect yield. The program featured UMN Extension soybean agronomist, Seth Naeve, and UMN Extension corn agronomist, Jeff Coulter and was hosted by UMN Extension educators Dave Nicolai and Anthony Hanson. To listen to a recording of this episode subscribe to Strategic Farming: Field Notes on your favorite podcasting platform or visit this website: https://strategicfarming.transistor.fm/# . Corn What the crop has been through  The hot and dry conditions during and after pollination affected pollination and kernel loss. Peeling back husks may reveal some missing kernels along the length of the ear because the ovules were not fertilized by pollen. It mi...

 Angie Peltier, Extension educator - crops Waterhemp. Photo: Liz Stahl On the August 10, 2022 Strategic Farming: Field Notes episode, Bruce Potter, UMN Extension Integrated Pest Management Specialist and Dr. Tom Peters, UMN/NDSU Extension Sugarbeet Agronomist joined moderators and Extension educators Liz Stahl and Claire LaCanne for the “Pests bite back” edition to discuss how best to manage pesticide resistant weeds and insects and keep currently effective pesticides effective. To listen to a recording of this episode subscribe to Strategic Farming: Field Notes on your favorite podcasting platform or visit this website: https://strategicfarming.transistor.fm/# . Weed management Audience asked about their weeds’ herbicide resistance Audience members were polled before the discussion began about whether they think that they have weed resistance to any of the six most commonly used herbicide groups (audience members that responded could select all that applied):  27% didn’t thin...

 Bruce Potter, Extension IPM specialist Although aphid populations are increasing in some areas of western and southern Minnesota, many areas still have low populations. Even in those locations that have seen economic threshold soybean aphid populations, aphid populations vary among fields. Planting date, soybean growth stage, rainfall/soil moisture and soil fertility management practices all affect soybean aphids. Assume many of these aphid populations are resistant to pyrethroid insecticides (e.g. warrior, asana, bifenthrin). Many fields have uniform, but low soybean aphid populations. Speed scouting will often over-predict the need to treat aphids in these fields. Make sure populations are increasing and you are averaging 250 aphids/plant. Some fields are seeing large numbers of winged aphids leaving and arriving. Some soybeans are now at the R5.0 to R5.5 stage. As new vegetative growth ceases, many aphids leave the plants. The remaining aphids will be found lower in the ca...

Join us for Strategic Farming: Field Notes on Wednesday August 17 at 8am when we welcome Dr. Seth Naeve, U of M Soybean Extension Agronomist, and Dr. Jeff Coulter, U of M Corn Extension Agronomist to discuss how corn and soybean yields are estimated this time of a year, and how that may vary from actual yield you see from the combine. High variability in initial planting dates and conditions followed by drought and other environmental stressors means many growers are wondering what kind of yields they might expect this year. Join the discussion on how yields can be estimated, what conditions are possibly increasing yield in August, and what pitfalls we may see going into September. Field Notes , designed for farmers and agricultural professionals, features a live webinar with interactive discussions addressing in-season cropping issues as they arise. Sessions will run Wednesday mornings from 8:00 – 8:30 a.m. throughout the 2022 growing season. Weekly topics will be announced on...

Craig Sheaffer, Extension forage specialist, Nathan Drewitz, Extension educator - crops, and Jacob Jungers, Assistant professor, Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics Measuring alfalfa density. Photo: Nathan Drewitz The best method for determining the forage yield potential of an alfalfa stand is by directly measuring yield at harvest. However, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have estimated forage yield by measuring plant and stem density . Stem and plant density measurements can help determine the success of establishment, the yield potential after winter injury, and timing of stand termination. Stand evaluations are typically performed in both fall before dormancy and spring once regrowth is over 2 inches tall. In some instances, these methods can be used during the season to determine if stand issues need to be remedied. Because these evaluations are important when making management decisions, a better understanding of how these numbers are derived and whether they a...

Time flies when you are having fun harvesting the winter wheat and winter rye trials across the state.  It has been three weeks since the last small grains disease and pest update and a lot has happened. Bacterial Leaf Streak (BLS) has maybe stalled out a little, leaf rust made a grand entrance, and it is not hard at all to find Fusarium Head Blight (FHB).  Most surprisingly, however, are the reports/finds of ergot in not just rye but spring and winter wheat across the tri-state region.  The higher dew points made FHB  rear its ugly head once again.  Many of you heeded Andrew Friskop and my worries and applied fungicides to suppress FHB.  With that fungicide application, you also prevented all leaf diseases, including leaf rust, present in the canopy at the time of application to develop any further.   Leaf rust did, however, make a grand entrance in the region as was evidenced in the leaf rust nursery at the NWROC.  The disease went from 0-6...

Posted by Robert Koch (Extension Entomologist) Written by Naworaj Acharya (Minnesota Department of Agriculture) For many years, chlorpyrifos was widely used to manage a variety of insect pests in several important agricultural crops including soybean and sugar beet in Minnesota. However, in August 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a final rule revoking all chlorpyrifos tolerances, effectively stopping its use on food and/or feed commodities after February 27, 2022. In response to the EPA decision, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) did not renew registration of chlorpyrifos products with food and feed uses for 2022. This means these products cannot be sold or distributed in Minnesota. While chlorpyrifos can no longer be used on food/feed commodities for sale in the United State, its use on non-agricultural sites such as sod farms, ornamentals and turf, greenhouse and nursery production, and structures is unaffected by the tolerance revocation decisi...

 Phyllis Bongard, Extension content development and communications specialist Tar spot of corn. Photo: Dean Malvick, UMN As we move into early August, the high variability in weather conditions and crop growth stages has affected the risk for significant crop disease. Dean Malvick, Extension plant pathologist, joined moderators Angie Peltier and Ryan Miller, Extension educators, for the August 3rd Field Notes session to discuss the concerns. Observations from around the state Southeastern Minnesota To date, there have not been any incidents of tar spot or other corn leaf diseases in either the sentinel tar spot hybrid trials or general scouting reports. More concerning in this part of the state is the level of field spraying activity for soybean aphid. Miller’s team has been monitoring soybean aphid for several weeks and have not found any significant infestations. The bottom line for growers is to scout for soybean aphid to make sure applications are cost effective while reduci...

By: Anna Cates, Extension soil health specialist The Midwest Cover Crops Field Guide is a go-to in-field resource for farmers, advisors, and educators who work with cover crops. It fits in your pocket, has great pictures of different types of cover crops so you can identify the plants in your 12-way mix, and it includes critical information on seeding rates, methods, and depths. (For planting timing recommendations, you can always use the MCCC online selector tool .) The updated guide includes information on planting green, the practice of planting a cash crop into living cover crops and terminating shortly thereafter. The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council is funding research on planting soybeans into living rye in Minnesota, a combination that has worked well in Iowa without reducing soybean yield . Farmers say it’s actually easier to run a planter through upright, flexible, living plants than dead rye, which can form a wet mat that tangles around planter units. The r...

In this episode of the Nutrient Management Podcast, we’re talking about cover crops. What should farmers who are considering growing cover crops this year be thinking about? What are some tips for getting a cover crop established in Minnesota? Should growers consider applying fertilizer to help get a cover crop established? What recent cover crop studies have U of M researchers been doing, and what have we learned from them? Transcript Guests: Anna Cates, Extension soil health specialist (St. Paul) Fabian Fernandez, Extension nutrient management specialist (St. Paul) Carl Rosen, Extension nutrient management specialist (St. Paul) Lizabeth Stahl, Extension crops educator (Worthington) Additional resources: U of M Extension cover crops Minnesota Office for Soil Health Midwest Cover Crops Council Upcoming events: SWROC cover crop field day  - Aug. 18, Lamberton Rosholt research farm field day  - Aug. 18, Westport Becker irrigation and nutrient management field day  ...