cropCENTRAL | Field Crop Production Resources

2014 Illinois Crop Management Conferences Registration Now Open

  • December 4, 2013

The latest research information on crop production and management issues will be discussed at four University of Illinois Crop Management Conferences this winter. These two-day conferences are designed to address a wide array of topics pertinent to crop production, pest management, and natural resource issues and provide a forum for discussion and interaction between participants and university researchers.
Certified Crop Advisers can earn up to 13 hours of CEU credit. Advance registration, no later than one week before each conference,…

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The Agenda for the 2014 University of Illinois Corn & Soybean Classics

  • November 22, 2013

With the 2013 harvest mostly completed, I would like to take this opportunity to announce the agenda for the 2014 University of Illinois Corn & Soybean Classics.  We look forward to welcoming back many who have attended one or more of our previous meetings and extend a warm welcome to those who will attend for the first time.  The program will feature nine presentations that emphasize crop production, pest management, economics, and the interactions among them. …

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Potash Fertilizer: Is There a Problem?

  • November 21, 2013

In a publication brought to the public’s attention by news release from the University of Illinois several weeks ago, S.A. Khan, Richard Mulvaney and a colleague in the Department of Natural Resource and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois challenged a number of basic tenets of soil fertility, especially practices related to use of potassium (K) fertilizer. Citing hundreds of references and thousands of reported studies, they asserted that: K fertilizer is generally unnecessary in soils like most of those in Illinois;…

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“Handy Bt Trait Table” Published by Michigan State University and University of Wisconsin Entomologists

  • November 7, 2013

Drs. Chris DiFonzo (Michigan State University) and Eileen Cullen (University of Wisconsin) recently updated and published their “Handy Bt Trait Table.” This great reference provides information for transgenic hybrids on the types of Bt proteins expressed, insects controlled, herbicide tolerance, and refuge requirements for selected traits. Depending upon the specific Cry protein (below ground and/or above ground) expressed and combinations of Cry proteins delivered within the large range of Bt hybrids sold,…

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Issues with Nitrogen Fertilizer: Fall 2013

  • November 1, 2013

With 85 percent of soybean and 74 percent of corn acres harvested by October 27, the annual process of deciding when and how to supply nitrogen fertilizer for the 2014 corn crop is underway.
Lessons from this past year
Following the very dry first half of 2012 and low corn yields, soil sampling last fall revealed an average of about 80 lb N present as nitrate in the top foot of soil in Illinois. With a lot of rain in late winter and early spring,…

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Fall Fertilization for the 2014 Crop

  • October 27, 2013

Corn and soybean harvest continues to move along in Illinois, and as the 2013 crops come off, thoughts turn to fall fertilization. In this article we’ll discuss nutrients other than nitrogen. This will be followed soon by an article on nitrogen.
P and K
In areas with dry soils, we have in recent years had reports of lower than expected soil test K values. There might be some of this in 2013, but we’re also hearing some reports of soil test P and K levels higher than expected.…

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Would More Rain Have Made Good Corn Yields Even Better?

  • October 16, 2013

The Illinois State Water Survey weather recording site in Champaign near the South Farms provided the following rainfall totals (in inches) in 2013: May – 4.65; June – 5.33; July – 3.47; August – 0.49; September – 0.50. The dry weather along with high temperatures in late August into September – it reached 98 degrees on August 31 and again on September 10 – had many of us believing that yields would be lowered. I was also hoping that irrigation in a study we conducted here might bring us 300-bushel yields by preventing such a decline.…

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Register Now for the 2013 AGMasters Conference

  • October 15, 2013

The on-line registration site is open for the 2013 AGMasters Conference. The conference will take place December 2 and 3 at the i Hotel and Conference Center, Champaign, Illinois. The program will begin with a general session that features five outstanding speakers who will cover a broad range of topics that relate to agricultural production and the environment. Following the opening session, participants will be able to select eight of sixteen specialized workshop topics of most interest to them.…

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Fall Herbicides to Control Marestail (Horseweed)

  • October 2, 2013

Widespread and often very dense populations of marestail in soybean fields last spring caught the attention of farmers and other weed management practitioners.  Many came to the difficult realization that marestail is not a problem weed species only in the more southern portions of Illinois.  It’s difficult to say with complete accuracy how far north these infestations occurred, but mature marestail was easily observed during recent travels through Kankakee and Will counties.  As we mentioned earlier this year,…

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Thoughts at Harvest

  • September 27, 2013

Corn and soybean harvest in Illinois stood at 5 and 1 percent, respectively, on September 22, 2013. These are behind the 5-year averages, and far behind the 51 percent of the corn crop harvested by this date in 2012. Using 5-year averages may be reasonable, but corn harvest progress by October 1 ranged from 4 percent to 71 percent over the past five years, so “average” does not describe “typical” very well.
Harvest of both corn and soybean have ramped up in Illinois the last week of September,…

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