After last year’s drought, I didn’t think I’d see water logged fields this spring. But there’s water standing in fields all along the I-29 Corridor in South Dakota. Over the last five days, some areas have received more than 6 inches of rain. How long can corn and soybeans plants at early growth stages survive in these waterlogged soils? Nathan Mueller, South Dakota State University Extension agronomist, says it depends. "We know that the crop growth…

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I read an interesting report about corn planting from Peterson Farms Seeds, Harwood, N.D. Adam Spelhaug, their agronomist who also writes “Dakota Crop Notes” for Dakota Farmer, says he’s noticed that a number of their top corn growers who have relatively new planters with only a few hours on them had a “disappointing number of variable corn stands” last year. He says part of the problem appears to be planting speed. “Our research has shown a…

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You would like meeting Jamie Gorder and her husband, Mark. They farm near Wahpeton, N.D. Jamie won the North Dakota 2012 corn yield contest with a 298.6 bushels per acre corn yield entry. It was in the dryland corn division. The entry earned her second place in the national corn yield contest. The couple enters the National Corn Growers Yield Contest every year. They use the yield contest to test new practices and products. The Gorders ridge till. The push plant populations and…

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I attended the North Dakota corn and soybean conventions the past week. The North Dakota Soybean Growers Assocaition and North Dakota Corn Growers Association are very optimistic about the future for their members. North Dakota is well positioned to ship more soybeans to China and southeast Asia. The state, I learned, can produce soybeans for less than anywhere else in the U.S. and has the lowest transportation costs to China and southeast Asia. …

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How did Jamie Gorder, Wahpeton, N.D., produce the 298.6 bushel per acre yield for the National Corn Growers Association Yield contest? Her entry was the highest in North Dakota and 2nd highest nationally in the non-irrigated division. Jamie farms with her husband, Mark, and their son, Vincent. Mark took second in the North Dakota non-irrigated division with a 288 bushel per acre entry. Jamie produced 298.6 bushels per acre with DuPont Pioneer P0062XR -- a Roundup Ready…

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A proposal to build a $1 billion plant to make fertilizer from natural gas produced in the Bakken oil field in North Dakota is moving ahead. A feasibility study has been done and the fertilizer plant project is moving on to the business planning stage, according to a press release from the North Dakota Corn Growers Association. The project could solve a problem for North Dakota’s two major industries -- agriculture and energy. On the ag side, farmers have had problems getting…

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There should have been a big drum roll at the South Dakota Corn Growers Association's annual meeting when they presented plaques to the yield contest winners. There were some impressive yields in 2011. The top yield was 294 bushels per acre entered by David Ogle, Harrold, S.D., in a the no-till/strip till category. But this isn’t the highest yield ever in the contest. Steve Breding, Chamberlain, had a 297 bu/a yield in 2009 in the same category. SDCGA published a yield contest results…

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There should have been a big drum roll at the South Dakota Corn Growers Association when they presented plaques to the yield contest winners. There were some impressive yields in 2011. The top yield was 294 bushels per acre entered by David Ogle, Harrold, S.D., in a the no-till/strip till category. But this isn't the highest yield ever in the contest. Steve Breding, Chamberlain, had a 297 bu/a yield in 2009 in the same category. SDCGA published a yield contest results booklet and included a…

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Jeff Stachler, NDSU and U of M Extension weed specialist, walked around Peterson Seed Farms field day Harwood, N.D., the other day with a four foot tall weed that drew a lot of attention. It was a waterhemp, one he suspected that was resistant to glyphosate. He had pulled it from a soybean field, where it was sticking up through the canopy like a Christmas tree. Because he could see dead waterhemp next to it, he doubted it if his specimen (a female waterhemp, he said) was a late…

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You probably could tell that I haven’t been out of the Dakotas for a while when I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the fields in Illinois. From 8,000 feet up, in the commuter plane I was riding from Chicago to Decatur, Ill., to work at our company’s Farm Progress Show, I could pick out the hay fields easy enough. The windrows were as clear as a bell. But there were deep green fields and light green fields. Obviously, one was corn and the other was soybeans. But which…

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