It’s always amazing to see apparently still-thriving winter annual weeds underneath the snow or following some really cold weather.

As owner of one of the state's largest dairies, Logan County farmer Lee Robey is a very busy man. In the fall, he and his crew are all-hands-on-deck, as they work to harvest his grain crops in a timely manner to maintain optimum quality. Any unnecessary downtime could be a real inconvenience and detrimental to the harvest progress.

Downy brome is most problematic in winter wheat fields and pastures, and, as of 2000, had infested over 98 million acres of U.S. rangeland.

New research explores in-field variability and uses online databases to collect information on vegetation and topography.

Fall application of herbicides is effective for controlling perennial weeds, as they begin to store carbohydrates produced through photosynthesis in the roots. Applied herbicides are translocated to the roots of the weeds as the carbohydrates are being stored, thus killing the whole plant.

When you think of tightening your belt in crop production, it often means cutting your production costs while maintaining yield to increase profitability. The opposite can be just as effective: Maintaining your production costs while increasing yield will increase profitability.

With wheat prospects looking reasonably good so far this season in many areas, producers may be wondering if it would pay to add chloride to their topdressing blend. Chloride is a highly mobile nutrient in soils, so split or topdress application may be beneficial, especially in regions of sufficient precipitation or with coarse texture soils that may cause leaching.

With the intense rains this past season, some areas of the state had considerable gully erosion cutting up the fields, bounced across and made visible at harvest time, especially in soybeans.

Exapta Solutions has expanded its Mojo Wire product lineup with an updated kit for dry Keeton seed firmers and a new wire for Flo-Rite seed firmers on planters.

For the second year, a national survey of farmers has documented a yield boost from the use of cover crops in corn and soybeans, as well as a wide variety of other benefits.