Agronomy Zone 1

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Crop conditions in my region are all over the board, with some areas looking at potentially having the best crop they have seen in the last 5 years while others are going to need some help from mother nature to get an average crop.

From central Minnesota up to northwest Minnesota and into the Red River Valley, things are looking very good right now. I was in the Long Prarie/Browerville area yesterday and their corn and soybean crops look fantastic. The corn for the most part was tassled and very even across the fields. Although the Valley was slower to start planting this spring, they too have a nice looking corn crop and look to have the potential for one of the best corn crops in recent years.

In west central Minnesota things are looking pretty tough. Areas between MN Hwy 7 and MN Hwy 40 have received alot of rain in June and this has led to areas of drown out and very uneven corn fields. It is not uncommon to see corn range from knee high to tasseling in the same field. The soybean crop was very yellow early, but has since snapped out of it and now looks pretty good.

In my southern area, they have also had more than enough rain and have areas of uneven corn and drown out areas, although not as bad as west central Minnesota. The soybean crop was slow to start, but now looks good.

I have been finding aphids in soybean fields, but so far they are low in numbers (15-25/plant) and they are not on a high percentage of plants. Phytophthora has been showing up in fields in the southern part of my area, as well as bacterial blight. I would advise walking your soybean fields regularly to stay ahead of the aphids as well as any disease pressure that may arise.

The crops are looking good in North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. The corn crop is ahead of schedule and soybeans are right on schedule. Most growers in my territory are finished planting and have been spraying for weeds over the past week.

Corn emergence is down a little from previous years due to a week of cold weather in late April. We lost about 1,500-2,000 plants per acre during that cold spell, regardless of the hybrid growers planted. Some growers chose to re-plant after the frost damage and now that corn looks great. Soybeans are emerging nicely and I have not heard any reports of re-planting in my territory.

Some areas are dealing with wet field conditions but it’s nothing like the flooding happening in Iowa and northern Missouri. The towns of Moorehead and Georgetown in northwestern Minnesota both received four inches of rain and reported some localized flooding late last week but there was not any major rain or hail damage. I have observed some cutworm issues in corn fields in west-central Minnesota. There appears to be an above average cutworm population this season that some growers are going to have to deal with in the weeks ahead.

Overall, growing season is progressing nicely across North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Let’s hope the weather continues to cooperate.

What a difference a month can make! Coming off a winter that gave us more snow than usual, it looked like it was going to be a late spring. But a snowless March, coupled with the 2nd-warmest April on record, allowed us to get into the fields ahead of normal and get a good start to the 2010 growing season.

For the most part, corn planting is done in my area, other than a few areas that received heavy rains in mid April. The first-planted corn has started to emerge in the past few days, and stands look good. Most farmers reported planting into very good seedbeds this year, so emergence issues should be minimal. Some areas have been a little dry, but I think the small rains received this last week should help with germination and also help the preemerge chemicals do their thing.

There are a few soybeans going into the ground this past week, but most farmers I talked to were going to wait until the first week of May to start. I think that this is a good thing, as the temps are supposed to cool down here for the next 5 days or so. Even though the temps feel like Mid to late May, it is only the 1st as I am writing this and this is Minnesota/ND, so anything can happen as far as the weather.

If Mother Nature provides us with rain and heat this summer, we look to be off to a very good growing season. I hope the rest of your planting season goes well and that it is a safe spring.

I have been getting lots of questions lately regarding seed quality and supply of Stine Brand soybeans.

With the challenging weather this fall, many soybean fields were harvested late and the moisture of the soybeans was high, which has led to germination issues with some fields of production. While seed grown for Stine was not excluded from this situation, I am pleased to report that our supply of soybeans right now is still very good.

Stine Seed Company works with a number of independent seed facilities across the country to produce, clean and bag our seed, which allows Stine to expand production acres over a wider geography and spread our risk. In many cases the same variety will be raised at two or three different seed facilities which helps lessen the risk of losing a variety due to environmental issues. This way, when production of a variety at one facility is lost to poor germination, we will likely still have units available for sale from another location.

So, while we have had some issues with seed quality, growers should know that we still have a good supply of the key products for this northern area. In 2009, Stine Seed had very good results in plots all across my territory. We continue to bring you the top yielding genetics first, so if you are in need of soybean seed use our dealer locator to find the dealer nearest you, or call 1-800-362-2510 for more information.