Both total production and average yields per acre nationally for corn and soybeans could set records, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Tuesday (Aug. 12).

High-quality corn silage often is an economical substitute for some of the grain in finishing and in dairy rations, and it can be an important winter feed for cow-calf producers.

As early corn comes to market in July, growers are reminded that timing counts for a lot when it comes to planting corn. That's why Mississippi State University scientists are researching the effects of planting date, plant population and hybrid selection on field corn yields.

Driving past local cornfields on my way to work nearly every day, I’ve see a wide range of plant colors and sizes this year, from head-high, dark-green stands to tiny, pale plants, drowning in excessive moisture.

Soybean aphid colonization has been slow to start this year, however, we are beginning to get reports of soybean aphids in southwest Minnesota and a few other states.

Farming in north-central Illinois, Cade Bushnell doesn't have the luxury of naturally high organic matter in his primarily sandy clay soils or a consistent weather pattern he can count on each year to produce a bumper corn crop.

As we enter the soybean reproductive growth phase there are a few things to keep in mind. The first is that soybeans will produce flowers for around 3 to 5 weeks, depending upon planting date and environment.

Soybean acres continue to grow and that means that we will likely have more acres of soybeans planted into virgin soils, where there has been no recent history of soybeans.

This is the third year of the past four that wet soil conditions have forced many producers to make a decision to seed or not seed a crop when it is well beyond the optimal planting time. The question is whether to plant the crop and accept the risk of lower yields and reduced crop insurance coverage, or to collect a prevented-planting crop insurance indemnity payment and idle the ground, says Andrew Swenson, farm and family financial specialist with the North Dakota State University Extension Service.