Agriculture

In this Best of Voice of Soy, brought to you by Ohio soybean farmers and their checkoff dollars, Horacio Lopez-Nicora with Ohio State University shares how checkoff investments are helping farmers tackle these yield robbing pests. ...

Many Wisconsin farmers spent their weekend in the field, but USDA reporters say there is still a lot of work to do. In the week ending Sunday, Wisconsin farmers completed 7% of their corn planting and 6% of the soybean planting.  About 30% of the oats are planted and 50% of the potatoes are in the ground.  That’s around six days behind the average for soybeans, 11 days behind the […]

A western Wisconsin farmer says conditions for planting are finally good. Shane Goplin and his family farm near Osseo, Wisconsin, and he says, “The planters are rolling, yes.”  He tells Brownfield he was able to get started Friday and as of Monday afternoon, Goplin was optimistic he could finish planting by the end of this week with two planters going. “Hopefully, we’re going to finish up alfalfa today before it […]

A South Dakota farmer doesn’t mind the early and late opportunities to plant while dodging much-needed rain. Dave Ellens farms between Wentworth and Madison in southeastern South Dakota and says planting progress has been good. “We got done with corn last week and we just started on beans here pretty heavy and we did get slowed down by some rain here but the rain was pretty welcome for how dry […]

The USDA says as of Friday, there are now 283 poultry flocks affected by highly-pathogenic avian influenza scattered across 32 states. USDA says 171 of the flocks are commercial growers and 112 are backyard flocks.  More than 37 million birds have been depopulated because of avian influenza. New cases this month include a backyard flock in Pierce County, Wisconsin (30 birds), a backyard flock in Bremer County Iowa (50 birds), […]

More ideal weather conditions are helping Arkansas farmers play catch up. Eighty-two percent of the corn crop has been planted, 9 points behind both last year and 6 points behind the 5-year average. Seventy-five percent is rated good to excellent.  Fifty-nine percent of the crop has emerged.  Rice planting is 57% complete, still well behind last year and the 5-year average.  Thirty-two percent of the crop has emerged.  Soybeans are […]

Fruit development has been slow for cherry growers in Michigan and one industry leader says that’s not a bad thing. “Typically, if we have late bloom we tend to have a decent-sized crop.” Cherry Industry Administrative Board Executive Director Heather Weber tells Brownfield the likely event of any frost or freeze damage is minimal at this point, but pollination is still reliant on the weather and bees. “Unfortunately, time will […]

Improved weather conditions helped Tennessee farmers plant a lot of acres in a short period of time.  Corn is 64% planted, now 10 points behind last year’s pace and 8% behind the 5-year average.  Twenty-five percent of the crop has emerged. Soybeans are 19% planted with 4% emerged.  Cotton is 13% planted. Wheat conditions declined slightly, with 59% of the crop rated good to excellent and 98% is jointed with […]