Nebraska Farmer Logo

Find It Now: As the growing season heads down the home stretch, here's a look at some of our top crop-related articles through this year's growing season.

Tyler Harris, Editor

August 15, 2016

3 Min Read

It won't be long, and combines will be hitting the fields to harvest corn and soybeans in Nebraska. For many growers in the state, it's been a season of ups and downs, starting out with one of the driest Marches on record, followed by heavy rainfall events in April and May, and then extreme heat through June and July. As the growing season heads down the home stretch, here's a look at some of our top articles on crop-related issues from this year's growing season.

updates_cropping_season_1_636068704427754364.jpg

With a break in the weather, planters were rolling. This article covers the challenges growers had with hitting the fields in April and May, as well as crop progress in different parts of the state. Many growers wasted no time planting corn before the rains came in mid-April. But after heavy rainfall, some were kept out of the field until late April or early May.

Corn disease watch list for this season. This article offers a quick rundown on some of the key corn diseases to watch for in 2016, and offers some tips on controlling foliar diseases like gray leaf spot and northern corn leaf blight, including timely fungicide applications and selecting resistant hybrids.

Think about N on a pounds-per-bushel basis. In a new podcast focusing on crop-related issues during the growing season, we visit with Mike Zwingman, agronomy R&D manager at Central Valley Ag, on nitrogen management during the growing season. This includes using a number of tools in the nitrogen management toolbox, including split applications, tools like 360 Y-Drops, nitrogen stabilizer product, and crop modeling tools. It also means thinking about nitrogen on a pounds-per-bushel basis.

updates_cropping_season_2_636068704427754364.jpg

June crop update. This article gives an update on crop conditions in different parts of the state as of mid-June. After variable planting dates due to wet weather early on, some parts of the state were faced with heat stress in June, and short-term water stress in some cases. However, those acres that were planted early and caught some heat units in June were beginning to take off.

The difference between roots and active roots. In this podcast from July, Keith Byerly, Advanced Cropping Systems manager at CVA, discusses the importance of root development in crop water uptake and nutrient uptake. While some corn plants were heat-stressed in June, Byerly notes those plants were putting down deeper active roots — over 2 feet down as of early July,  meaning a deeper active root system to take up water later in the season.

updates_cropping_season_3_636068704427754364.jpg

July crop update. In our most recent crop update for the year, we look at crop progress throughout different parts of Nebraska as of late July. Some parts of the state dealt with their share of wind and hail in July, most notably in counties in east-central Nebraska. Other parts of the state, particularly in south central Nebraska, were dealing with drought stress, while others were seeing a limited amount of stress. In west-central Nebraska, dryland corners were as well off as acres under irrigation.

Stay tuned for more updates as the cropping season moves forward.

About the Author(s)

Tyler Harris

Editor, Wallaces Farmer

Tyler Harris is the editor for Wallaces Farmer. He started at Farm Progress as a field editor, covering Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. Before joining Farm Progress, Tyler got his feet wet covering agriculture and rural issues while attending the University of Iowa, taking any chance he could to get outside the city limits and get on to the farm. This included working for Kalona News, south of Iowa City in the town of Kalona, followed by an internship at Wallaces Farmer in Des Moines after graduation.

Coming from a farm family in southwest Iowa, Tyler is largely interested in how issues impact people at the producer level. True to the reason he started reporting, he loves getting out of town and meeting with producers on the farm, which also gives him a firsthand look at how agriculture and urban interact.

Subscribe to receive top agriculture news
Be informed daily with these free e-newsletters

You May Also Like