Steve Gauck, regional agronomy manager with Beck’s Hybrids, shares some key takeaways from recent research on horizontal, balanced and vertical root systems.

Cresco, Iowa, strip-tiller Frank Moore shares his experience incorporating cover crops into his 2,000 acre operation. With changing weather patterns and more "event storms", that can erode soil structure, Moore's goal with cover crops in strip-till is to establish the crop in winter and have it help control spring rainfall through an established root system to hold soil in place.

To confirm potentially damaging nematodes in corn, samples that contain both soil and root systems need to be submitted.

Engineered to produce the bacterial toxin, Bt, "Bt corn" resists attack by corn rootworm, a pest that feeds on roots and can cause annual losses of up to $1 billion, but besides merely protecting against these losses, the Bt trait has also boosted corn yields, in some cases beyond normal expectations.

From the standpoint of economics it befuddles me why growers would not desire to give their corn crop the best opportunity to come out of the ground like a roaring lion.