As spring arrives, here’s a quick look back at the major educational meetings we attended this winter:CPM Short Course – Dec 9-10, 2016
Master Marketer – Jan, Feb, Mar 2016 – Dennis only
Kevin Kimberly – February 3, 2016
Nutrient Management Conference – February 9, 2016
MVTL – February 18, 2016
MNICCA – February 19, 2016 – Lance only
Nitrogen Smart – March 7, 2016
As we work our way through harvest, one of the events we look forward to is harvesting our corn test plot. A lot of time and thought go into choosing hybrids for this plot. This plot is an extremely vital part of our operation’s decision making process for the next year’s corn varieties.
Because our operation focuses heavily on corn varieties that use hybrids with less insect traits than the companies are pushing, there is little plot data available to help us make decisions on these hybrids. This is a part of our broad plan to deal with corn insect resistance issues. Continue reading
There were some great presentations and two-way dialogue between university researchers and attendees at the 2013 Soybean Symposium sponsored by the U of M and the MN Soybean Research & Promotion Council. This event has been held at the U of M Landscape Arboretum since it’s inception.
This year’s sessions focused on resistance management of soybean insects, diseases and weeds as well as corn root worm beetles. Attendees were crop consultants, farmers, agronomists as well as a number of ag media representatives. The seed company reps may have been uncomfortable with some of the topics discussed because, if the farmers followed the recommendations, especially on soybean seed treatments, it would go against what they’re pushing on the farmers. Continue reading