Crop Watch

By Bob Streit
Columist, Farm News

Adios 2023! Hello 2024!

By late 2023 after we have had the fourth consecutive year in a row with very dry conditions where no one could predict how the season and crop size would turn out. At least Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota avoid any sizeable Derechos. Now with large weather changes...

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Early Fall Harvest Report

October, with its harvest moons, is upon us. It will be the month when our two major crops will be harvested and put into storage until each farmer finds a home for it, be it for feed on a local level, moved to an ethanol plant within easy driving distance, railed to...

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Corn Yield Factors

Mid-September has arrived. Most sections in the Midwest had the majority of crop acres whimper to the finish line. Most areas within the cornbelt no significant rain to help the soybean crop finish enlarging the bean size. We can say that it was another season had no...

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The Last Days of Summer

September has arrived and with it the days are getting shorter, the fall harvest season is getting closer and the birds that congregate for their journey to their southern homes have taken off already. I would normally say that the days are cooling off, but not yet....

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Big News of Last Week

The days are becoming noticeably shorter and the crops are advancing in what has become a topsy turvy growing season. Everything seemed out-of-whack from the end of winter and the start of the planting season, to what we have in the field now. This was following the...

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Field Updates: Corn & Soybeans

What a summer and what a growing season. Does anyone know what to expect next? Actually, keen observers recognize that up until now it has been mostly a cookie cutter repeat of the last three seasons. Unseasonable warm in early to mid-April, then it dropped into the...

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The $64,000 Question

We are in the last full week on July. Now through mid-August is typically the hottest and driest part of the summer. It is also the time when most of the sweet corn comes into full production and we get our fill of this tasty crop along with watermelons which are...

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Crop Season Midpoint

The summer and season is continuing at a very rapid pace. In most cases the corn crop in most places reached knee high or taller by July 3rd. In fact, there were tassels poking up in a number of commercial fields with silks soon to emerge. In my gardens the mid-April...

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Tips for Drought Proofing Crops

Don’t look now but we are approaching the longest day of the, June 21st. This is when soybean plants are normally triggered to start flowering if they have reached the V5 growth stage. At this point a sizeable percentage of the bean plants are behind that schedule due...

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