In April, Mitas celebrates 12 months of farm tire manufacturing at its Charles City facility, which currently employs 188 locals in Iowa. Today, Mitas held its board of directors meeting at the facility and launched three new tire sizes in the SFT and AC85 ranges available in North America starting in April.

In the video, strip-till Charlie Hammer of Beaver Dam, Wis., discusses modifications he is making to his Wil-Rich strip till unit, adding Orthman row units to freshen up his strips this spring. A particularly cold winter and spring brings challenges, but Hammer feels they can overcome the cold spring by getting out, building the zone residue-free without a depression to absorb as much heat as possible.

Because of widespread drought conditions experienced over the past year, many growers are concerned about the potential for carryover injury from herbicides applied in 2012 to the crops they will plant in 2013.

Corn growers need to scout their fields to determine wireworm populations before planting so they don't miss the optimum treatment window, a Purdue Extension entomologist says. Wireworms, or click beetle larvae, feed on corn seed germ and may prevent plants from sprouting. The pest becomes active when soil temperatures warm into the upper 40s.

Sit around a table for just a little while with Joey Hanson, and it becomes evident that running short on personal energy isn’t a problem for the Elk Point, S.D., producer. His eyes dance with enthusiasm and his voice burns with excitement as he talks about farming.

A bill to fund the federal government for the remaining six months of fiscal year 2013 is now awaiting the president’s signature. The House of Representatives passed the government funding bill recently by a vote of 318-109. Senate passage occurred with a 73-26 vote.

For many of you, and for us at Orthman Research Farm near Lexington, Neb., the pre-plant tillage operations for spring 2013 will be underway very soon. Tillage via strip-till methods will be our way, but how about many of you as you consider the fertilization part of the puzzle? How will that be happening for you?

Fierceâ„¢ Herbicide (active ingredients: flumioxazin + pyroxasulfone), the newest residual from Valent U.S.A. Corporation, has received US EPA registration in soybeans. Fierce, which received registration for corn earlier this year, is now available to soybean growers for the longest-lasting, broadest spectrum control of broadleaves and grasses, including species that are resistant to glyphosate and other chemistries.

Strip-till certainly isn’t a secret or new concept. For more than 20 years, Charlie Hammer and his wife Nancy Kavazanjian, have been strip-tilling corn on their nearly 1,900 acres near Beaver Dam, Wis.

DuPont and Monsanto announced today a series of technology licensing agreements that will expand the range of seed products they can offer farmers. The agreements include a multi-year, royalty-bearing license for Monsanto’s next-generation soybean technologies in the United States and Canada.