MerschMedia: News Affecting You

1. What is this Settlement about? Plaintiffs claim that herbicides containing the chemical dicamba caused damage to crops of certain Soybean Producers. This Settlement is designed to resolve claims of Soybean Producers against certain agricultural companies for alleged harm to soybeans from contact with dicamba between 2015 and 2020. If you were a Soybean Producer for commercial purposes and grew soybean crops that showed symptoms of dicamba exposure, you may be eligible for benefits from this Settlement. Click Here to Read More

The North Central Regional Committee on Management of Small Grain Diseases (NCERA-184) has developed the following information about fungicide efficacy for the control of certain foliar diseases of wheat for use by the grain production industry in the United States. Click Here to Read More

Cooler conditions continued into week 4, resulting in relatively few moths being caught across the state. During week 4 of the Iowa Moth Trapping Network (April 18 to April 24), our cooperators reported 56 total black cutworm (BCW) and 15 true armyworm (TAW) moths. Click Here to Read More

While the warm weather has finally arrived for planting season, dry soil is becoming an increasing concern in parts of Iowa. In addition to concerns about subsoil moisture, some fields have had significant surface drying, particularly in areas with more tillage this spring. Dry soil conditions have put into question seeding depth. The goal here is to plant the seed into moisture to achieve uniform emergence. Click Here to Read More

When to start to plant can often be a difficult decision. The challenges include weather-related changes, soil temperature, moisture conditions, number of acres to cover and the risk of a spring frost for the earliest planted fields. We have recommended starting soybean planting as early as mid- to late April based on scientific reports that document higher yields (Tenorio et al., 2016). Advancing the soybean planting date window to match the corn planting date window would require using two planters, but…

The Crop Protection Network (CPN) has produced a new web book called Fungicide Use in Field Crops. Fungicides are an important crop protection tool for modern agriculture, and proper use decreases risk of fungal diseases and economic losses. This book highlights the importance of fungicides for yield protection, while considering economics, risks to humans and the environment, and prolonging use of fungicide modes of action. Click Here to Read More