Planting continuing

Soybean planting has picked up over the last week. This hot, dry weather has come at a good time. We have six SoyMVP fields planted, with at least six more to go.

Early emergence number look very good; 85-90% in those fields that have completed emergence. We got 92% emergence in a field planted April 22. With these warm air and soil temperatures, I see this trend continuing through the end of the growing season.

Soybean Links

*The following agriculturally relevant links are for your information only. They don't represent an endorsement of any of the ideas presented.

Genetically modified crops may not be environmentally harmful

As one representative from the organic sector put it, agricultural biotechnology is kind of like the Force: It's not inherently good or bad -- what matters is how you use it.

Farmers say risk management program too complex

The Average Crop Revenue Election program provides revenue support as an alternative to the price support that farmers are used to receiving from commodity programs. If a state's revenue falls below the guarantee, farmers who signed up for ACRE could receive payments.

Hoosier USB Director says Corn and Soybean Checkoff Investment Working

Schriver told HAT that a lot of people don’t understand the importance of making sure consumers understand where Indiana farm products actually come from.

Drying out

While this spring looked like it was going to provide us with perfect early planting conditions, it's slowly turning into a late planting situation again for many areas of the state. Much of the state's corn crop is, or has been under water. Our SoyMVP fields that made it in the ground early have suffered the same fate.

Hopefully, the rain that is expected this week will be minimal or will hold off altogether so that we can get back on track.

For more information on flood damage to corn, please see the following posts made by Chad Lee on the Grain Crops Update Blog.

Flood Damage to Corn

Estimating N Losses in Wet Soils

Herbicide Issues in Flood Damaged Corn Fields

Below is an excellent resource with several links pertaining to flood damage in both corn and soybean.

Crop Management Information for Flood-Damaged Field Crops

Daviess County Research Trials

I recently had the opportunity to help out with the corn variety trials in Daviess County. Paul Winkler, Adult Vocational Agriculture Instructor in Daviess County, coordinated the trials for the week. We were able to put out seven variety trials with seven different producers over the five day period. I came away impressed with both the research program in the county and the number of great producers that Paul and the Extension Service have established relationships with through the years. One producer that is doing a corn hybrid trial will also be participating in SoyMVP for the 2010 season.

Paul, Clint Hardy, and the cooperators in Daviess County do an excellent job with this program. Results from their 2009 corn, soybean, and wheat trials can be found below:

2009 Daviess County Research and Demonstration Plot Book

Crop Progress

The National Agriculture Statistics Service (NASS) puts out a weekly crop progress update every Monday.

The update can be found here.

This is a good way to keep up with how things are going in the state, as well as the other corn and producing states throughout the country. While soybeans are yet to make the list, corn planting as 74% complete as of Monday, April 26, compared to 35% one week ago and 18% one year ago.

SoyMVP and related articles

A couple of my articles have shown up in recent publications. If you have access to the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer either in print or online, an article on SoyMVP was in there this past Sunday, April 18.

There are also a couple of articles in the new Spring 2010 issue of the Kentucky Soybean Sentinel. Check them out if you get a chance.

First 2010 SoyMVP field planted

We got our first field planted yesterday, April 20. This is quite the contrast to our first field last year, which went in on June 3.

The seeding rate we used was 120,000, which I fully expect to give a stand of 100,000 considering the conditions and soil temperatures hovering around 70 degrees. This field has a seed treatment vs. non-seed treatment comparison, so I'll let you know how stand establishment goes and any differences we see between the crops throughout the season.

Many of the concerns we see from early planting aren't as big of an issue as they would normally be, so I'll be anxious to see what kind of effects we get from these treatments.