Soybeans

Agronomy News-July 2022, Volume 13, Issue 4. Topics in this issue are:

The Crop Protection Network (cropprotectionnetwork.com) is a national working group comprised of Extension agents and specialists from across North America that provide data through publications regarding pest management in agronomic crops. The website and publications can be a great resource for your operation. The following are the most recent fungicide efficacy tables for foliar diseases of corn and soybean.

Volume 13, Issue 2

Resources on growing organic grain

Organic grain production is promoted for greater potential profits with premium grain prices, improved soil health with organic inputs and fewer environmental hazards in the absence of synthetic chemical use. However, the three-year period required for organic certification is a challenging phase when transitioning farmers are learning to do without synthetic chemical manage soil fertility, weeds, diseases and pests, while not yet receiving those attractive premium prices (Delate and Cambardella, 2004). Organic grain production, if done regeneratively, may reduce environmental impacts and increase ecosystem services from agriculture. Among the latter, minimization of nutrient loss to water is especially important in Maryland, since a good deal of the nitrogen and phosphorus pollution to the Chesapeake Bay comes from agriculture (2025 Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs)). However, the change in environmental impacts due to the transition from “conventional” to organic farming could be either positive or negative (Bavec and Bavec, 2015), depending on the system of practices (inputs, soil disturbance, soil cover, etc.) utilized in the conventional and organic systems (Röös et al., 2018).

Reports of slug damage to emerging soybean seedlings (Glycine max) have increased in recent years, though their activity is highly variable from field to field, and within a field from year to year. Spring, 2021 weather was both cool and wet, conditions that many slug species find ideal. Slug eggs overwinter in the soil, hatch in the spring, and the juvenile slugs can begin causing damage to crops in just a week’s time after hatching (Hammond et al. 2009).