Minnesota Crop News

In this episode, Dave Nicolai and Seth Naeve chat with Bob Koch, Director of the Institute for Ag Professionals at the University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Extension entomologist. Bob discussed the Institute for Ag Professionals 2025 educational offerings, highlighting the January Field Crop Research Updates for Ag Professionals as the first educational event for 2025. The University of Minnesota Field School (St. Paul Campus) will be held on July 29-30 followed by the Crop Pest Management Short Course in December. In this podcast, Dave and Seth discussed with Bob how the University of Minnesota Research Updates for Ag Professionals event can help Ag Professionals and growers find research-based strategies to deal with today's changing pests, diseases, varieties, and nutrient and environmental recommendations. Participants at each of the five locations located across Minnesota will be able to visit in person with experienced university researchers and colleagues to d...

Early bird registration rates for the 20th annual Soil Management Summit end January 7, 2025. Be sure to register before January 7th to secure the lowest registration rate for this great event! The Soil Management Summit features: Breakout sessions led by experts, researchers, and farmers Exhibitors with innovative solutions to improve your soil health and farm profitability Networking opportunities at scheduled breaks and Beer and Bull Panel discussions with experienced farmers and agriculture professionals Table talks to support informal discussions with farmers and advisors The Soil Management Summit draws farmers, ranchers, land owners, ag advisors, local conservation staff and more from all corners of Minnesota and beyond. 98% of Soil Management Summit attendees said they would recommend this conference to their friends and peers. We hope to see you there! Location: Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center  1 Civic Center Plaza Mankato, MN 56001 Dates: January 29-30, 2025 Regis...

Craig Sheaffer, Forage Extension Agronomist, and Prabin Bajgain, Research Assistant Professor Perennial grains have potential economic benefits from grain and forage production as well as environmental benefits derived from long-term soil coverage without tillage, extensive fibrous root systems that sequester organic matter, and the ability to recycle plant nutrients. In previous issues of Crop News, we have written about Kernza intermediate wheatgrass, a perennial grain in the article, Agronomic advances in Kernza research . Kernza has been evaluated in Minnesota for over 10 years and a plant breeding program has developed new improved varieties. It is now grown and marketed by producers in Minnesota and surrounding states; however, they have been discouraged because grain yields are best in the first 2 years following establishment and afterwards decline as the stands mature. This decline is in part due to competition for resources among plant tissues as Kernza partitions signifi...

Today on the podcast we focus on soybean nutrient management. Our four soybean and nutrient management panelists from across Minnesota and North Dakota explain their research trials, and discuss some preliminary results in the region. Also, what should growers keep in mind as we transition into 2025? What are the panelists' concerns about IDC? That and much more on our last episode of 2024.   TRANSCRIPT Guests: Lindsay Malone, Assistant professor, Climate Smart Approaches in Agriculture (NDSU) Daniel Kaiser, Extension nutrient management specialist (St. Paul) Lindsay Pease, Extension nutrient and water management specialist (Crookston) Seth Naeve, Extension soybean agronomist (St. Paul) Additional Resources: Growing soybean Is it worth applying sulfur to your soybean crop? Chloride and soybean: What to know about potash fertilizer management — Click here to listen to all Nutrient Management Podcast episodes. For the latest nutrient management information, subscribe to the Nut...

Liz Stahl, Extension educator - crops Reminder! If you haven’t done so yet, it’s time to register for the 2025 “Strategic Farming: Let’s Talk Crops!” winter webinar series. Key issues and questions facing Minnesota farmers today around commodity crop production will be discussed through this live, interactive, online program.  Sessions will be held over Zoom, which can be accessed via your computer, phone, or other mobile device, and will run from 9:00 to 10:00 am Wednesdays, January 8 through March 26, 2025. Register once for all sessions at:  z.umn.edu/SF2025 . Sessions will be very informal and open to all interested. Each session will start with a brief presentation by the discussion leaders for the day, followed by discussion framed around  farmer/participant questions on the topic. If you can’t join us live, all sessions will be recorded  and posted for later viewing at https://z.umn.edu/strategic-farming . Guests from University o...

Registration is now available for the 2025 Nitrogen Conference and the 2025 Nutrient Management Conference. The Nitrogen Conference will take place in Mankato on Tuesday, February 4, 2025. The Nutrient Management Conference will be in St. Cloud on Tuesday, February 18, 2025. Both conferences will also be available online. For both in-person and virtual attendance, the cost to attend each conference is $20. Lunch is included if you attend in-person. Nitrogen: Minnesota’s Grand Challenge & Compelling Opportunity Conference  Tuesday,  February 4, 2025 in Mankato, Minn.  This conference explores how nitrogen management impacts crop production, the environment, and soil productivity. In addition to research updates, there will be a farmer panel on nitrogen management. Cost:  $20 Register to attend in-person:   2025Nitrogen-in-person.eventbrite.com  (Lunch is included if you attend in-person.) Register to attend online:  2025Nitrogen-virtual.eventbrite.c...

By: Bailey Tangen, Extension educator; Anna Cates, Extension soil health specialist; Marcelle Lewandowski, UMN Water Resources Center; and Etienne Sutton, Program Manager & Senior Researcher, University of Missouri Center of Regenerative Agriculture If you or someone you know planted cover crops fall 2024, help us get local data on spring growth that can help farmers make cover crop management decisions. Join the ongoing effort for data collection University of Minnesota Extension has partnered with the Great Lakes Cover Crop Project to build a regional dataset of cover crop performance across Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. This data will identify the best cover crop types and practices for various growing conditions and inform management recommendations tailored to your region. Why Participate? Earn $50 per field enrolled (up to three fields annually). Receive a personalized report with biomass and nutrient estimates for each field. Contribute to...

Keeping up with new crop production challenges is a top priority. The 2025 Research Update sessions will provide research-based knowledge and field-tested solutions that will help you overcome these challenges in the field in 2025. Register soon to reserve your spot at one of the five Research Updates sessions across the state. In January, the updates will be held in Waseca (January 7), Oronoco (January 9), Willmar (January 14), Lamberton (January 15) and Crookston (January 16). Program details including schedule, presentation titles and speakers for each session can be found on the  Research Updates  website. As always, we have applied for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for Certified Crop Advisors. Registration The registration fee is $60 through the end of this year, and $70 at the door. On-site registration begins one hour before the start time at each location. Follow this link for online registration: Register online Click on the link above to start your registration. ...

By: Jeff Vetsch & Kyle Holling, researchers, U of M Southern Research & Outreach Center (SROC) After a very rainy spring, many farmers and ag advisors in southern Minnesota had the same question in June 2024: Does my corn need supplemental nitrogen (N) fertilizer? At the U of M’s Southern Research and Outreach Center (SROC) in Waseca, we decided to put supplemental N to the test. Here’s what we found. Rain, rain, and more rain Much of southern Minnesota received excessive spring rainfall which likely led to N loss due to leaching and denitrification. At the SROC in Waseca, we recorded 7.48 inches of rainfall in May and 12.45 inches in June. These values are 3.01 and 7.07 inches greater than normal for those months. Tile drains were flowing rapidly. Fields, drainage ditches and rivers were inundated with water. Nitrate concentrations in tile drains at the SROC drainage research facility were about 80% greater in May and June than in April. Observations like ponded water in field...

After spending last episode talking about the background and history of nitrogen rate recommendations in Minnesota, today on episode 14 we’re talking about what to keep in mind as you begin predicting your nitrogen rate needs. How do yield, and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) factor into decision-making? Are there any N rate databases available to Minnesota growers? What are the pros and cons of a variable rate strategy, or cover crops for example? Brad and Dan talk about that and much more on today's episode. TRANSCRIPT Guests: Brad Carlson, Extension educator (Mankato) Daniel Kaiser, Extension nutrient management specialist (St. Paul) Additional resources: Corn nitrogen rate calculator Fertilizing corn in Minnesota Nitrogen fertilizer BMPs for agricultural lands --- Click here to listen to all Advancing Nitrogen Smart podcast episodes. For the latest nutrient management information, subscribe to the Nutrient Management Podcast . And don't forget to subscribe to the Minnesot...

The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) have published the 2024 Minnesota Field Crop Trials. Visit varietytrials.umn.edu/2024 to see variety trials for 8 different Minnesota crops. Crops included in this year’s trial include barley , canola , corn grain , oat , soybean , spring wheat , winter rye , and winter wheat . About the Crop Variety Trials When farmers are ready to make seed choices, the University of Minnesota field crop trials offer unbiased and trustworthy information. The annual Field Crop Trials are one of the keyways MAES works to bring valuable research into the hands of farmers and ultimately help improve farm profitability, improve the economy and overall quality of life in Minnesota. Since the late 1880s, MAES has published reports of crop variety trials but it wasn’t until 1948 that the trials were combined into a single annual publication. Today, the annual field crop trials a...