Farm Progress Show Highlight.

There is always one product at the Farm Progress Show that seems to catch the eye of a lot of People.  This year it was the Tribine.  The corn head was folding, and instead of a grain tank, it fills its own Auger Wagon.  I worry about compaction, but it might be  an effective way to load trucks without unloading on the go. I could tell this machine was interesting to a lot of people because they were stopping to look at 3:30 in the afternoon to take a look.  Most people are just strolling to see what they missed at that time of day.  They don't stop very often.

Harvest 17 Started

Corn Harvest is started in our area, although it is moving slow.  We have had some reports of decent yields and others with nothing to brag about.  The local yield surveys are trending 20 bushels per acre lower than last year and Pro Farmer tour is mostly 10 bushels per acre lower.  Will prices move up  a little?

Crop Progress in Brazil

By Eduardo Paim:

Here in Brazil most of the maize of the second crop has already been harvested, and the products in general have been records! We have already received some rains in Mato Grosso, for this time of year it is not normal to rain. In my small area we had 100 mm of accumulated rainfall in the last two weeks, this is not generalized, some regions did not receive any rainfall.

We are preparing to start planting soybeans in 30 days, in the North of Mato Grosso always start first. The rains damaged the quality of too much corn that was harvested and stored below the clear sky.

Missouri River Management Plan Needed.

Dr. Ken Olsen of the University of Illinois is calling for a new study and management plan for the Missouri River.  Dr. Olsen is a soil scientist who studied the 2011 Mississippi and Ohio River floods, first in terms of the flood damaged soils, and later in more comprehensive manner documented in his book, "Managing Mississippi and Ohio River Landscapes."  A summary of Dr. Olsen's"Big Muddy" Missouri River Needs a Plan, article in the journal of Soil and Water Conservation.  The Missouri River Valley is a highly productive region for agricultural production, but that production is not without risk.

Dicamba Research Issues Starting to Surface

After many weeks in the denial and back steppping mode by the manufacturers of the new formulations of dicamba, we seem to be getting some information that perhaps Monsanto, BASF and DuPont need to take another look at what they did wrong.  First it looks like they hid behind the veil of corporate secrecy to get their label approvals. It also looks like there was little field testing of the products.  It looked good on paper so lets run with it.  Check out the RPM Soils Facebook Page for links with all the details.  We have been posting there.

Subsoil Moisture

We did a septic tank evaluation today about 5 miles west of Fillmore.  Soil is very dry to a depth of 4 feet.  This was in a corn field, so realistic of field conditions.  from 4 to five feet there is a little moisture.  Corn looked very good under the circumstances.