“This part of our garden was solid Canadian thistle this spring,” Howard Vlieger said in a message which accompanied the photo at the bottom of this report. Howard’s home and farm is in Sioux County, northwestern Iowa. August 26, 2018 — The transformation from thistles to a thick cover crop on this patch occurred with the […]

One of America’s venerable crop consultants, Dr. Carey Reams, often cited this maxim: “If you could double the thickness of a crop leaf, that leaf would increase its sugar production four times. The extra chlorophyll would capture much more sunlight energy.” August 24, 2018 — Research with calcium silicate is approaching that theoretical goal. For several years, vegetable and fruit

When Ken Hamilton and Salam Awada flew from Idaho to attend a farmers’ meeting in Iowa Aug. 20. It’s a signal of how important they see you as a farmer whose soil stewardship matters to our future. You’re the key ingredient in their professional goals. August 23, 2018 — This report on the farmer field

When I was a beginning ag journalist with Farm Journal, the senior crops editor advised me: When writing about a new idea for farmers, remember that your reader is telling you: “Write less on how it came to be, and more on what it means to me.” August 22, 2018  By Jerry Carlson — But this story on

That Verdesian field day at Dave Schwartz’ farm yesterday presented an eye-opening array of promising new biologically-based crop technology. Your challenge now: Choosing the most profitable, synergistic blend of ideas! August 21, 2018 — Over the next several days, we’ll summarize many of the ideas at the “Show Me the Money” field day Aug. 20. The rapid-fire lineup

This morning, Biodyne USA President Gil Farley sent us the photo below of a yield estimate from a northern Indiana side-by-side corn trial. Their Environoc 401 bacterial inoculant placed in-furrow showed a 27-bu. benefit. August 18, 2018 — The photo below tells the story. Both parts of the side-by-side experiment were planted April 19, 2018.

Today as we packaged some samples of various WakeUP solutions for further laboratory testing, the idea hit us: Most farmers who use wetting agents don’t see what happens when those products blend with water. Water’s reaction with WakeUP Summer is far different from most surfactants. There are hundreds of agricultural surfactants and spray “adjuvants,” but not many

Hopefully you’re not seeing many cornfields like the one in the photo below, taken the first week of August in north central Iowa and first posted on our website Aug. 7. We’ve been asking crop observers for their diagnoses. Today, Iowa crop consultant Bob Streit offers some possibilities in his weekly field scouting report, which we include below.

Monday, August 20 offers you one of the most profit-motivated and practical field days we’ve seen assembled in more than 30 years of fielding seminars. Just head for the machine shed on the Schwartz farm, 1778 Highway 44, west of Guthrie Center, for the all-day presentations and field day starting at 9:30 a.m. August 12, 2018 —