As you finish up your harvest and sit down to think about your seed options for next year, consider your options when it comes to genetic resistance to disease.

Corn marketed at the standard moisture content of 15.5% and 56 pounds per bushel typically contains 47.3 pounds of dry matter and 8.7 pounds of water.

The wet fields that have delayed growers from harvesting also increases the risk for yield loss from wildlife damage and weak plant integrity due to unfavorable weather conditions.

As fall strip-tillage gets geared up, I was asked what a grower should look for in their fields, and developed this list of tips

At first glance, soil sampling would seem to be a relatively easy task. However, when you consider the variability that likely exists within a field because of inherent soil formation factors and past production practices, the collection of a representative soil sample becomes more of a challenge.

Grain moisture content at different growth stages is fairly well known. Kernel moisture content decreases as the kernels develop through the blister stage (85%), milk stage (80%), dough stage (70%), dent stage (55%), and finally physiological maturity (30%).

It is already the third week of October and most of the corn is still standing in the field. Some of the earlier-planted fields are being harvested, but at relatively high moisture levels. This is causing some concern among producers as to the potential for ear rot and mycotoxin problems. In fact, we've already received several samples of moldy ears from some fields, but so far the problem does not seem to be widespread, with only a few fields affected and not every ear rot is associated with vomitoxin or other mycotoxin contamination of the grain.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing a new voluntary Drift Reduction Technology (DRT) program to encourage the use of verified, safer pesticide spray products to reduce exposure and pesticide movement while saving farmers money in pesticide loss.

Last week the Environmental Protection Agency issued approval for Enlist Duo, the glyphosate/2,4-D premix for use in the Enlist corn and soybean system, in six states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The approval came with a number of conditions that set a new precedent, and we will cover these in more detail later this fall.

The two primary requirements for soybean seed germination are temperatures above 50 F and seed moisture percentages greater than 50%. Air temperatures and seed moisture content during seed-filling are well above these minimums. But soybean seeds almost never germinate before maturity. Soybean, like many other grain crops, possess several mechanisms that prevent sprouting before maturity.