Crop Production

The evolution and future of modern agricultural pesticides

shane.hansen@simplot.com — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0400

If you recognize the utility of sawing off the top foot and a half of a garden hoe shaft, there’s a high likelihood you were the child of a sugarbeet grower prior to 2008 and the introduction of glyphosate resistance into this crop. I count myself among this group of beet-hoeing children and doubt if there is anyone more grateful for the miracle of modern crop protection.

Maximizing corn silage quality: Key decisions for a successful harvest

ashley.knapton@corteva.com — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 00:00:00 -0400

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.

The growing challenge of herbicide resistance in Idaho's beets and beyond

Wed, 22 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

“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.

New seed treatment delivers in-plant microbe technology

walt.cooley@agproud.com — Wed, 08 May 2024 00:00:00 -0400

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.

Field scouting Idaho ag: 2023 in review

Thu, 21 Dec 2023 10:47:42 -0500

“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.

Idaho’s Turkish thistle threat

Fri, 17 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0500

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.

Fertilizer market review: What will 2024 bring?

xetienne@uidaho.edu — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 16:31:15 -0500

What do the Russian-Ukraine war and Hamas-Israeli conflict have to do with farming? The interplay of geopolitics, trade dynamics, and energy prices will continue to exert influence, shaping the course of the fertilizer industry in the coming months.

Weed of the month – November’s fall edition

Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

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.

Most problematic weeds in Idaho’s grain production systems

dougf@uidaho.edu — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

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

Can biologicals replace conventional pesticides?

jeff@millerresearch.com — Mon, 25 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400

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

Weed of the month – purple loosestrife

Thu, 03 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) is a semiaquatic perennial plant that is native to Europe and can be purchased (illegally) as an ornamental.

Weed of the month – rush skeletonweed

Thu, 20 Jul 2023 16:50:26 -0400

Clue: This plant resembles an alfalfa plant after a migration of grasshoppers has stripped all the leaves off.

Death, taxes and Idaho wind

Tue, 11 Jul 2023 09:58:44 -0400

If we can keep wind erosion under control, maybe then we’d only have to worry about planning for death and taxes, and finding where our trampolines are nesting.

New virus in Magic Valley alfalfa

joconnell@uidaho.edu — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

UI plant virologist Alexander Karasev took the alfalfa samples in 2020 while collecting symptomatic foliage in a field at the future site of Idaho CAFE near Rupert. Karasev named the newly discovered disease Snake River virus, after the Snake River Valley in which the field is located.

Having a prepared mind – and a little luck

jeff@millerresearch.com — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 15:29:02 -0400

If you try to improve your farming or ranching practice and it doesn’t work, realize you had a good learning opportunity. With eyes open, who knows what great things you will learn from failure?

Fungicide insanity

kduellman@uidaho.edu — Tue, 07 Mar 2023 11:21:44 -0500

The quote “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” is often attributed to Albert Einstein. This situation often occurs in my agricultural trials, where every year I test the effectiveness of fungicides against disease like fusarium dry rot or rhizoctonia canker in potato.

Purdy Farms tries sap analysis to optimize inputs

Fri, 24 Feb 2023 16:17:34 -0500

If the plant could talk in-season, what would it tell you about its needs? Sap analysis can find out.

An agronomist’s view of Idaho ag

Wed, 08 Feb 2023 15:52:26 -0500

Reviewing the 2022 growing season across Idaho – the lows and the highs.

Regional efforts to address herbicide resistance

dougf@uidaho.edu — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 11:05:32 -0500

Weed resistance? Better bring your A game.

2022 crop input cost update for Idaho

Thu, 06 Oct 2022 12:35:28 -0400

There's heartburn from four sources in Idaho ag this year: irrigation cost, labor, fertilizer and interest rates.

Well, we might as well try

aoverbay@vt.edu — Wed, 05 Oct 2022 12:07:58 -0400

I was a very lucky young man. I was born to hard-working, capable parents and was raised to know and appreciate their equally hard-working siblings.

[Podcast] Trying a new crop

Mon, 03 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0400

The red fire bug, another invasive insect

bstokes@uidaho.edu — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 13:48:52 -0400

The “murder hornet,” Vespa madarinia, invasion of western Washington and southwestern British Columbia began in 2020 and continued during 2021.

Hybrid rye: A bane turned blessing

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 17:12:02 -0400

Interseeding cover crops into silage corn

shines@uidaho.edu — Mon, 08 Aug 2022 17:00:29 -0400

In 2013, a group of colleagues and I started demonstrating with cover crops, with help from a Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant to fund the work.

Canola fills forage gaps

Mon, 30 May 2022 01:47:42 -0400

While canola is typically grown as an oilseed crop, there are emerging uses as an alternative forage crop that may prove useful for dairy producers in some situations.

Myth-busting 8 common beliefs about cover crops

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 21:59:18 -0400

Myths surrounding cover crops typically fall into one of two camps. The first camp is that of detriment, with concerns about available moisture being sucked up in a drought-prone area or fear that cash crop yields will be hurt. The second is misplaced expectations – placing cover crops on a pedestal as the Holy Grail to simultaneously fix every production woe.

Synthetic nitrogen in forage production

dustin_sawyer@rockriverlab.com — Thu, 01 Apr 2021 22:47:25 -0400

The article “Avoiding excessive nitrate concentrations in 2021” in the February issue of Progressive Forage introduced carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen (CHON) and its importance to all living things, and spoke to the role humans play in managing nitrogen – the only CHON element that can be managed.