cropCENTRAL | Field Crop Production Resources

Dec 01 | Weekly Climate Summary & Forecast

  • December 1, 2022

Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the last few days of November. Average temperatures from Friday to Tuesday were generally between 2 and 10 degrees above normal, with highs from the mid-40s to low 60s and lows from the mid-20s to upper 30s. Southerly winds allowed for these mild temperatures until a cold front swept through Tuesday night into Wednesday causing temperatures to plummet Wednesday and Thursday.
Illinois saw some rain last weekend. However, not enough to improve the drought conditions.…

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Nov 18 | Weekly Climate Summary & Forecast

  • November 18, 2022

Illinois experienced a drastic change in weather this past week, from unseasonably warm to unseasonably cool as a low pressure system with a strong cold front swept across the state. Average temperatures were in the low 30s to low 40s, between 3 and 10 degrees colder than normal for mid November. The highest of temperatures since last Friday was a whopping 47 in Dixon Springs representing Southern Illinois and 41 in Big Bend for northern Illinois.…

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Nov 11 | Weekly Climate Review & Forecast

  • November 11, 2022

This week was unusually warm, with average temperatures ranging from the upper 40s to low 60s; between 6 and 12 degrees above normal for early November. The warmth continued a generally warmer than normal pattern that has dominated November so far, following what was the 47th coolest October on record statewide. In fact, November to date temperatures have been 8 to 12 degrees above normal.
Everyone picked up at least some rain in the last week;…

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Fall-Applied Herbicides: Which Weed Species Should be the Target?

  • October 27, 2022

Herbicides applied in the fall often can provide improved control of many winter annual weed species compared with similar applications made in the spring. Marestail is one example of a weed species that is often better controlled with herbicides applied in the fall compared with the spring. An increasing frequency of marestail populations in Illinois are resistant to glyphosate, and resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides also is present in Illinois populations. Targeting emerged marestail with higher application rates of products such as 2,4-D in the fall almost always results in better control at planting compared with targeting overwintered and often larger plants with lower rates of 2,4-D in the spring.…

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Fertilizing with High-Priced P and K

  • October 21, 2022

As the 2022 season winds down, farmers are thinking about their fertility program for the 2023 growing season. While fertilizer prices have declined since spring, fertilizer prices remain high, and fertilizer costs are significantly higher than a year ago (farmdoc daily, 12:148). With continued high fertilizer prices, making every pound of fertilizer count is essential. The most important thing to be as efficient as possible is reviewing a few principles related to soil fertility.…

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Introducing Giovani Preza Fontes, Field Crops Extension Agronomist

  • October 19, 2022

I am pleased to introduce myself as the new Assistant Professor & Field Crops Extension Agronomist with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. I’m a U of I alum and am thrilled to be back in Illinois to serve U of I students and agricultural stakeholders through teaching, research, and extension.
I was born and raised in Midwestern Brazil, in the state of Mato Grosso (the top soybean producer in Brazil, with ~27.4 million acres planted in 2021/22).…

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Fall Nitrogen

  • October 19, 2022

Harvest in Illinois continues to lag some, with 47% of the corn crop and 55% of the soybean crop harvested by October 16. The dry weather continues this week, which should allow harvest to progress. The projected Illinois corn yield for 2022 increased to 210 bushels per acre in the October crop production report from NASS. Projected soybean yield stayed at 64 bushels per acre.
As harvest progresses the focus to fall application of nitrogen fertilizer,…

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Why are the Corn and Soybean Crops Drying So Slowly?

  • October 5, 2022

As corn approached maturity in early September, warm temperatures and forecasts for dry weather had us looking forward to an early start to harvest for the 2022 corn crop, and a slightly delayed but rapid movement towards getting soybeans harvested as well. Instead, both crops have languished, with corn only 63% mature and 13% harvested, and only 10% of the soybean crop harvested by October 2.
The first thing that comes to mind as an explanation for the slow drying is the cool weather in recent weeks.…

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A Simple to Understand Variable Cash Rent Lease

  • September 23, 2022
  • In this interview, Gary Schnitkey outlines a simple variable cash rent agreement. It sets the minimum rent $100 below the USDA average, the maximum $!00 above that average, and adds a yield factor of  32% of the corn yield income or 43% of the soybean yield income to the minimum for central and northern Illinois. Those factors differ in southern Illinois.

read the farmdoc Daily article…

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Illinois Crops Update 9/9/2022

  • September 9, 2022

Nick Seiter, Extension Field Crops Entomologist, University of Illinois
Second-generation bean leaf beetle adults have been emerging over the last few weeks; pod scarring has been an issue in some areas over the last two years. Consider scouting your R6 beans, particularly in fields that you expect to mature late. Remember it takes a lot of beetles and a lot of this sort of damage to reduce yield and/or quality. The beetles do not directly feed on the seed,…

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