Corn growers who find unexpected lodging during harvest could find that the problem is caused by Bt-resistant western corn rootworm, an entomologist with Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences said.

We have discussed this in the past, but it probably requires a review again with no-till wheat and other seedings commencing:

We have published articles about fall herbicide treatments in C.O.R.N. over most of the last five years or more. Readers can check the archives for those articles, as our suggestions about fall weed control have not really changed much from year to year. Maybe the best thing we can do here instead of regurgitating the same information is to list some of the questions we have received this year about fall treatments, with answers of course.

Study suggests earthworms could be established in drought-prone dryland soils to improve soil quality.

Harvesting soybeans in a timely manner and at the optimum moisture is important to getting the best yields. Even though stems may be green, soybeans may be dry and ready for harvest.

Reports are trickling in about green stem syndrome (GSS) in Iowa soybean, which is like rubbing salt in the 2013 soybean crop wound. Before we get into details of the disorder, we wanted to let you know that the IPM program is doing an analysis to determine the most common causes of GSS.

Variable soil types, knolls, and drought have left some growers with extreme in-field variability of soybean maturity. There are areas in fields where the soybean seed is 13% or less moisture adjacent to areas with green seed.

Environmental advocates in states along the Mississippi River have won a round toward a long-term goal of having federal standards created to regulate farmland runoff and other pollution blamed for the oxygen-depleted “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, and problems in other bodies of water.

Fall is an excellent time to test soil pH and determine whether any lime needs to be applied for future crops. Proper soil pH is important for nutrient availability, herbicide activity, and crop development. For most soils, additional lime is not needed every year. Consider these points before liming your fields:

After 30 years of rapidly expanding agriculture, South America is turning its focus from developing new fields to taking better care of those already in production. Victor Trucco remembers his father saying that soybeans would never be grown in their area. Yet Trucco became the first person to grow soybeans not long after he returned to the home farm in the mid-1960s.