Grasshoppers are becoming a problem on some farmland in areas of the Lone Star State, according to a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service expert. The hoppers are now winged and are moving into crops and orchards, said Allen Knutson, an entomologist at the extension service in Dallas.

Farmers enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) may request to hay certain acreage, according to information from the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA). The earliest date CRP acreages can be hayed in Aug. 2, says Brad Pfaff, executive director of the Wisconsin FSA. Managed grazing of acreage is also allowed under certain rules.

Corn crops are back on track in after late frosts in April and early May, according to an agronomist from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

A Clackamass, Oregon-based company has created a tool to help farmers better mend their fences. Warn Industries has released PullzAll, an electric hand-held tool that can lift or pull up to 1,000 pounds at the push of a button.

Traditional diseases affecting alfalfa crops are as prevalent as emerging ones — that's the somewhat surprising finding of the 2012 alfalfa disease survey that was conducted in Ontario last year to look at incidence, distribution and severity of many common diseases affecting commercial alfalfa fields.