Growers may be concerned about moldy grain and vomitoxin development in storage, but they shouldn’t rely on chemical treatments to prevent any further contamination, says an Ohio State University Extension plant pathologist.

In collaboration with the Organic Grains Research group, Mary Parr, graduate student in the Soil Science department at NCSU, has been investigating nitrogen (N) fixation and release in a system involving roll-killed winter legume cover crops followed by no-till organic corn.

All farmers are environmentalists and need to be vigilant about caring for their farmland, says Doug Darling of Maybee. Mr. Darling’s family is being honored this week by the Monroe Conservation District with its Friends of Conservation Award.

t might not look like there's much going on in those roadside corn fields, but a Purdue University researcher has shown that corn plants are in a fierce battle with each other for resources.

By following a few simple recommendations, farmers who apply manure as a fertilizer to their no-till field can decrease the chance that pathogens end up in runoff and pose environmental and health hazards.

An exotic invasive shrub, introduced in the 1800s as a garden plant, is being studied to demonstrate how its presence has a cascading damaging effect on natural flora and fauna, no-till agriculture and public health. Ohio State University entomologists are collaborating with Michigan State University and Iowa State University in a three-year research project to determine the distribution of buckthorn throughout Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Iowa.

Some farmers who think about converting to the no-till planting system are concerned there will be a drop in crop yields either in the short or even term. Truth is, there may be, but it won't last.