Aaron Hager, Author at farmdoc

Online courses target weed & crop management

October 20, 2015
Aaron Hager

Each year the University of Illinois Extension’s regional Crop Management Conferences offer hours of research-based education to farmers, Certified Crop Advisors, and other agricultural professionals. Interactive online courses were developed from 2015 conference presentations by University of Illinois Department of Crop Science faculty:

New (and old) Tools for Delaying and Coping with Herbicide Resistance – Dr. Adam Davis, USDA Weed Ecologist
Confirming Herbicide Resistance – Dr. Aaron Hager, Extension Weed Scientist
Corn &

…

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The End of an Era

August 12, 2015
Aaron Hager

In early 1998, Extension specialists in the Department of Crop Sciences (Drs. Kevin Steffey, Mike Gray, Bob Hoeft, and Emerson Nafziger) launched a new educational program dubbed the Corn & Soybean Classic. The program consisted of a series of regional meetings at which extension specialists shared with those in attendance the most current and relevant information related to crop production, pest management, and farm economics. Annually for 18 years, 7 to 10 specialists spent many long hours compiling the information generated from applied and basic research programs into a format that was shared with an audience that ranged in size from 800 to over 1300.…

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Symptoms of Sudden Death Syndrome Begin to Appear in Soybeans

July 28, 2015
Aaron Hager

Last week, symptoms of sudden death syndrome (SDS) began to appear in April 15-planted soybeans at the University of Illinois’ Northwestern Research Center in Warren County. Weather during the 2015 growing season has been favorable for the development of SDS: cool, moist soils after planting and frequent rains ever since. Symptoms began appearing approximately 3 weeks earlier than in 2014.
While the fungus that causes SDS (Fusarium virguliforme) infects roots of soybean seedlings very early in the growing season,…

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Brownstown Agronomy Research Center Field Day – August 5, 2015

July 27, 2015
Aaron Hager

The 2015 Brownstown Agronomy Research Center Field Day, presented by the University Of Illinois Department Of Crop Sciences, will be held on Wednesday, August 5. Extension researchers and specialists will address issues pertinent to the current growing season. The tour will start at 8 a.m. and will last approximately three hours. It will be followed by lunch provided by U of I Extension. 2.5 hours of Certified Crop Adviser CEUs have been approved.
Shaded tour wagons will take participants to each stop.…

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Join us in Monmouth on Tuesday, July 28 for the Northwestern Agricultural R&D Center Field Day

July 24, 2015
Aaron Hager

The program will begin promptly at 8 am at the Center which is located 1 mile North and 4 miles West of Monmouth at 321 210th Avenue (click here for directions).
Participants will board buses to tour portions of the farm, stopping along the way to visit with University of Illinois personnel who will present results of the most current crop, pest, disease, nitrogen and weed management research.
Certified Crop Advisors may earn up to 2.5 continuing education units.…

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Corn disease update and farewell

June 30, 2015
Aaron Hager

Last week, I visited all of the University of Illinois corn variety trials in the northern half of the state. Gray leaf spot and northern leaf blight were beginning to appear in most of the locations, but were the most obvious at the trial located near Perry, IL (Pike County).
With the amount of rainfall received in the past few weeks, it is not surprising that these diseases were beginning to appear. Since hybrids differ in their level of susceptibility to these diseases,…

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Reminder…Weed Science Field Research Tour

June 18, 2015
Aaron Hager

The 2015 University of Illinois Weed Science Field Day will be held next Wednesday, June 24th at the University of Illinois Crop Sciences Research and Education Center, located immediately south of the main campus. Coffee and refreshments will be available under the shade trees near the Seed House beginning at 8:00 a.m.
Similar to past years, we will car pool to the fields where participants can join in a guided (but informal) tour format. The tour will provide ample opportunity to look at research plots and interact with weed science faculty,…

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International Agronomy Day

June 1, 2015
Aaron Hager

The Department of Crop Sciences will host International Agronomy Day on August 31, 2015 at the Crop Sciences Research and Education Center at the University of Illinois. We have developed International Agronomy Day as an opportunity for international visitors to attend a field tour at the University of Illinois and interact with many of our faculty and staff. International Agronomy Day will take place the day before the Farm Progress Show opens in Decatur to provide an opportunity for international visitors traveling to the United States to attend the Farm Progress Show to learn more about the research being conducted by our faculty and staff.…

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Identification of Palmer amaranth in Illinois

May 21, 2015
Aaron Hager

Palmer amaranth continued to expand its presence in Illinois during 2014. Palmer amaranth populations have been confirmed in counties colored orange or blue in Figure 1; orange designates glyphosate-resistant populations are present in these counties. It should be neither construed nor assumed that Palmer amaranth populations occur only in the counties colored on this map. It is altogether likely that Palmer amaranth populations are present in many other counties. Emerged Palmer amaranth plants were observed on May 7 at our field research location west of Kankakee.…

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Stripe rust and Fusarium head blight (scab) concerns in Illinois

May 14, 2015
Aaron Hager

Stripe rust of wheat has been observed in different parts of Illinois within the last week. Although some varieties have very good resistance to stripe rust, there are still several varieties that are susceptible. Stripe rust is able to flourish under the cooler temperatures we’ve had over the last few days. With rain in the forecast in parts of the state over the next few days, favorable conditions for this disease likely will continue.
Although some wheat fields in the state are already past the critical period for applying a fungicide for protection against Fusarium head blight (a.k.a.…

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