The growing season has a large impact on our corn silage, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have options to manage the variables.

“I’m an optimist, but I have seen fields overrun by kochia, and last year we learned that we have Palmer amaranth and waterhemp,” says Dr. Albert Adjesiwor, University of Idaho Extension weed scientist in Kimberly.

A new seed treatment for use when planting corn for silage promises to increase total silage tonnage, with more of it being digestible, and decrease enteric methane emissions when the silage is fed.

“I keep saying, ‘This was a year that we’d never had before,’” says Keith Fehringer, after two decades as an agronomist with Bingham Ag Services in American Falls.

People can argue about anything, including the best definition of a weed. However, every land manager I know can agree about their loathing for invasive thistles. Unfortunately, a new species has made its way to North America and found an ideal habitat on the stark hillsides of Hells Canyon.

It's one thing to identify a weed, and another to know what to do about it. Find out what weeds to target in Madison, Ada, Twin Falls, Cassia and Bonner counties.

Which weeds are most problematic in Idaho's grain production systems? We asked.

“Why don’t we just use biologicals and toss out the conventional pesticides?” There are several reasons.