Minnesota Crop News

The first session in the Science for Success soybean webinar series is happening this Friday! Experts from across the country will discuss the necessary tools for overcoming weather challenges, from hurricanes to severe drought in this two-part, Soybean Resilience Blueprint webinar series.  February 28 : Climate Challenges in Soybean Production - This session will explore the impacts of changing weather on soybean production and offer actionable insights into overcoming these challenges. March 14 : Economic Insights for Uncertain Times -  This session will provide practical strategies to manage economic volatility in soybean farming. Both webinars are scheduled for 1PM EST | 12 PM CST. Each webinar will last approximately one hour and include a live Q&A session, allowing participants to engage directly with the speakers. Certified Crop Advisers can earn 1.0 CEU credit in Crop Management by attending the webinar. For questions, email [email protected] . Regist...

By: Fabian Fernandez, Extension nitrogen management specialist Taking advantage of the cold days on which I prefer to stay inside, I am taking a few minutes to share four things I have learned over more than a decade of research on nitrogen management for corn in Minnesota. 1. Spring applications are better than fall applications. While there are logistical and practical reasons why nitrogen fertilizers are sometimes applied in the fall, it is important to recognize that those applications are seldom better than doing the same application (same rate, placement, and N source) in the spring. IN a 25-site-year study across Minnesota, encompassing corn-after corn and corn after soybean cropping systems and N rates with fall and spring applications of urea, I calculated that a spring application of urea reduced the amount of N needed to achieve the economic optimum N rate (EONR) by 28 pounds of N/acre and it produced 9 bushels/acre more grain than a fall application. Clearly, fall applicati...

Drs. Fei Yang, Extension corn entomologist, and Bob Koch, Extension soybean entomologist, are continuing a project to evaluate pests that feed on seeds and seedlings in corn and soybean fields in southern Minnesota. In areas with severe infestations, these pests can cause significant stand losses or even require replanting of fields. Despite these potential impacts, much remains unknown about these pests in Minnesota corn and soybean. This article serves as a request for additional cooperating farmers for 2025, and an update on results from 2024. Request for cooperating farmers for 2025 They are seeking cooperating farmers in southern Minnesota to allow their research team to sample corn and soybean fields from April to June 2025. They are especially interested in sampling corn and soybean fields with the following characteristics: have recently come out of pasture, CRP, etc., are no-till, are following cover crops, have high organic matter, and/or have not had insecticide seed treat...

By: Tim Gieseke, Extension educator, ag water management, Vasudha Sharma, Extension irrigation specialist, & Jackie Estrem, Extension educator Over the past few years, efficient agricultural irrigation has become a hot topic in Minnesota. In regions with sandy soils and limited precipitation, irrigation is a key component of production agriculture. Matching irrigation with crop water use has become more important to maintain profit and maximize the groundwater resources. An understanding of the plant-water-soil relationship, proper irrigation system maintenance, and use of irrigation scheduling are just some of the tools irrigators use for cost-effective crop production.  The University of Minnesota Extension is offering the Minnesota Irrigator Program (MIP) to provide you with the information you need to make irrigation decisions in 2025, and help improve your irrigation use efficiency. Programming will include a discussion of the basics of irrigation, irrigation systems, how ...

By Angie Peltier, UMN Extension crops educator, Garcia y Garcia, UMN Extension sustainable cropping systems specialist and Seth Naeve, UMN Extension soybean agronomist On February 19, 2025, Axel Garcia y Garcia, UMN Extension sustainable cropping systems specialist joined UMN Extension crops educator Liz Stahl for a discussion about how he is using crop modeling to help soybean and corn producers gain important insights into how to successfully incorporate a rye cover crop into their cropping system before their soybean crop. This was the seventh weekly episode of the 2025 Strategic Farming: Let’s talk crops! webinars. The series runs through March.   To watch this and other episodes: http://z.umn.edu/StrategicFarmingRecordings A 12-state effort to assist farmers Garcia y Garcia and Seth Naeve, UMN Extension soybean agronomist, are the Minnesota representatives of a much larger team of university-based agronomists and cover crops experts working together to gather data and develop...

Nitrogen continues to receive a lot of attention from farmers and the ag industry as a whole. Between high fertilizer prices experienced over the past few years, recent low commodity prices, and environmental issues, there is a lot to consider when making N management decisions. Building on the popular Nitrogen Smart foundational program, University of Minnesota Extension will host two free Nitrogen College events: March 5 - 6 at the Red Barron Arena in Marshall, and March 19-20 at University of Minnesota Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston. Both events will consist of the same five sessions over two days. Attendees can choose to attend any or all of them. The five sessions are: “A Deep Dive Into the 4 Rs” – Day 1, 9:00 a.m. This curriculum goes into detail about the different types of N fertilizer and how they are best managed. This session includes a detailed look into determining the best rate for a field in a specific year. “Adapting N Management to Climate” – Day 1...