April 1, 2009

Features

Safeguard Your Soybeans

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Jen Bennett

It starts with lots of rain. Or drought. Or cold weather. Or hot. No matter what the environment, it seems there's pressure for something that could destroy... More

Edamame Takes Root In U.S.

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Karen Bernick

Edamame is that tasty treat American consumers once found only in Japanese restaurants or Asian specialty markets. But in recent years, the bright green... More

Chop Dusting

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Greg Lamp

An office job would drive 32-year-old Brent Wulf crazy, unless you think about his office being airborne, noisy and running sunup to sundown. Then it's... More

Too Much Of A Good Thing

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Barb Baylor Anderson

Many years, farmers wait for water to move crop development along. But in 2008, corn and soybean farmers had too much of a good thing. Whether you farm... More

Ramping Up For Rust

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup

The start of the tropical storm season is only weeks away. So are damaging outbreaks of soybean rust just around the corner? Spawned by tropical winds... More

A Front-Row View

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Mark Moore

Don't let crop scouting slip down your priority list. Truth is, with the plethora of resources available at your fingertips, scouting is probably one... More

Banking On Community

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By John Russnogle

Like a lot of bankers, it isn't unusual for John Dollinger to end the day with soil from a farm field on his dress shoes. The difference is, it's from... More

Carving A Competitive Niche

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Barb Baylor Anderson

Value-added production is that edge that allows us to always look for ways to do things better and more efficiently. That motto has guided Matt and Connie... More

Is IPM MIA?

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Liz Morrison

Caution flags are going up around the Midwest, warning farmers about the risks of pest-control tactics. The tried-and-true principles of integrated pest... More

Efficiency Proficiency

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Ron Gelderman Professor, Plant Science South Dakota State University

When applying fertilizer as a or starter near or with the seed, growers have new help in knowing how much is too much. Band placement of starter fertilizers... More

Is Lower-Priced Urea A Bargain?

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By James Camberato Agronomy Department Purdue University

Urea (46% N) and urea-ammonium nitrate (28% UAN) have typically been about 10/lb. of nitrogen (N) more expensive than anhydrous ammonia. Recently, urea... More

Stop Wasting Water

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Dave Howe

Push a button on a data logger or a handheld meter, read the number and line it up with your soil type in a table of soil-moisture levels. That's it.... More

Weathering the Markets

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Larry Stalcup

From Michigan to middle-Texas and near Mobile, AL, 2008 MarketMaxx winners battled the wrong side of weather markets in their real-life corn and soybean... More

Fertilizer Frenzy

Using R To Optimize N

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Jen Bennett

Right product, right rate, right time, right place. A concept used by the International Plan Nutrition Institute, those are the four keys to optimizing... More

My View

More Farmers Should Show Up

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Greg Lamp Editor glamp@csdigest.com

This year's Commodity Classic, where soybean, corn, wheat and now sorghum farmers meet for their annual convention, had almost record attendance. Total... More

Our Farm

Winding Down

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Tyler Bruch

It seems like yesterday we were fighting the spring rains here in Bahia. Planting timelines and my patience were both being tested to the limit. But now,... More

News

Would New Rust Impact Corn Belt?

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

A global food crisis is a distinct possibility if scientists are unable to develop wheat varieties resistant to a deadly fungus leapfrogging through wheat... More

Dedicated Ethanol Pipeline Study

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Magellan Midstream Partners has joined ethanol producer POET to continue assessing the feasibility of a dedicated ethanol pipeline. The proposed common... More

Honda To Research Cellulosic Ethanol

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Honda will build a new R&D facility in Japan that will focus on producing biofuels from non-food feedstocks by November 2009. Honda has been working with... More

Potash Corp/ Cuts Production

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

The world's largest fertilizer producer has announced plans to curtail potash output after recent industry data showed that North American potash inventories... More

Modern Market Fundamentals

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Crude oil prices, the stock market and the value of the dollar have been the main drivers of grain prices, says South Dakota Marketing Specialist Alan... More

IPM Is 50 Years Old

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Surveying farmers on IPM, a concept that began 50 years ago in California, two Illinois entomologists found: 83% believe economic thresholds are still... More

Large Agriculture Enrollment At Purdue

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Enrollment in Purdue University's College of Agriculture reached an 11-year high this fall, buoyed by a strong freshman class. Total enrollment in Purdue's... More

Products

Don’t Till Beans Following Corn

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

Save time and expense by eliminating tillage for soybeans after corn, according to Iowa State University research. It finds an insignificant soybean yield... More

Nitrogen Availability From Manure

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

On-farm trials of liquid swine and dairy manure nutrient availability provides helpful information for stretching fertilizer dollars. Nitrogen (N) availability... More

Products

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

DRY FERTILIZER OPTION Krause Corp. introduces a new dry fertilizer metering system for its 5200 series grain drills in no-till and minimum-till types.... More

Letters

National Ag Museum

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM

NATIONAL AG MUSEUM? Dear Dr. Glass and Dr. Daniel, In December I visited the Smithsonian Institute's Museum of American History. My interest was to see... More

Profits

Spending Profits: A How-To Guide

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Dave Kohl

One of the joys of writing this column is to expand upon questions I get in seminars or via e-mail. The following question came from one of my loyal online... More

Why Use Independent Contractors?

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Moe Russell

In monitoring the top guns in production agriculture, it's been my observation they are so good they can get all the money they need, all the land they... More

Don’t Forget Last Year’s Crop

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Ed Usset

Spring is sprung. So why am I thinking about last year's crop that crop you augured into your bin last fall when corn was worth about $3.50 and soybeans... More

Corn’s Two-Sided Coin

Apr 1, 2009 12:00 PM | By Richard Brock

As I write this article in mid-March, corn basis levels have improved substantially since harvesttime. The cash market is nearly $1/bu. off the bottom... More