+2.0 BU./A. ADVANTAGE vs. industry Roundup Ready 2 Xtend ® varieties in 12,588 head-to-head comparisons. *
November 22, 2019
Forage in a rut
www.agrinews-pubs.com
*Beck’s Roundup Ready 2 Xtend varieties versus Pioneer, Asgrow, and Syngenta Roundup Ready 2 Xtend varieties. Includes data from farmer plots, Beck’s research, and third-party data. Roundup Ready 2 Xtend® is a trademark of the Bayer Group.
New land uses
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS VARIETY TESTING
Rainfall impacts hay and corn silage production By Martha Blum
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
FORT ATKINSON, Wis. — Excessive rainfall had a huge impact on the hay crop and corn silage this year. “This U.S. map shows April to June precipitation for the past 125 years and almost every state is above average and some are much above average,” said Mike Rankin, managing editor of the Hay and Forage Grower Magazine. “Illinois had the fifth wettest year, and this really had an impact on harvesting forages.” Many alfalfa fields have ruts from harvesting during 2019. “You’re not going to get that back anytime for the remainder of t h at s t a nd life,” Rankin said during a webinar orga n i zed by Hoard’s Dairyman. Hutjens “Some of the land along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers will be set back for several years,” said Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois Extension dairy specialist emeritus. “This is the July 9 drought monitor map, and it shows a white U.S.,” Rankin said. “There was no drought anywhere in the U.S.” The May 1 hay stocks as reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture was one of the lowest hay stocks years since the turn of the century. “Only 2013 that followed a couple of drought years is lower,” Rankin said. “We started the growing season with not a lot of dry hay in barns across the U.S.” Rankin explained a major trend shift has occurred in hay production. “We no longer make as much hay as we once did,” he said. “From 2000 to 2010, we averaged around 150 million tons, and since that time the average has dropped to 130 million tons.” See FORAGE, Page A4
SEE SECTION B
INSIDE
Get machinery check-up after harvest A7 Extension staff addresses food insecurity C5 Trade pact to boost meat exports D3 AgriTrucker D1
Farms For Sale C1
Alan Guebert F6
From The Fields A8
Auction Calendar B1
Lifestyle C6
Business D7
Livestock D3
Calendar C8
Opinion D6
Classifieds C3
Weather A6
Vol. 42 No. 39
CONTACT AGRINEWS: 800-426-9438
Interest in solar, hemp affects values By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
AGRINEWS PHOTOS/TOM C. DORAN
A soybean variety testing plot near Goodfield was harvested by Darin Joos, University of Illinois principal research specialist, on Oct. 19. The independent trials featured 236 soybean varieties this year in plots across Illinois.
Seed trials
Variety testing provides corn, soybean options By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Expect the unexpected when looking over this year’s University of Illinois Department of Crop Sciences’ variety testing trials. Results of this year’s soybean and corn trials conducted across Illinois will be published in the Dec. 6 issue of Illinois AgriNews and are available on the Crop Sciences website to provide farmers, Extension personnel and seed companies with agronomic information such as yield and quality. U of I’s variety testing program began in 1934. The trials are professionally managed and conducted in a research-based manner to minimize variability and ensure the integrity of the results and offer a premier source of objective, third-party information on current varieties. Soybean plots are located at Erie, Mt. Morris, DeKalb, Monmouth, Goodfield, Dwight, Perry, New Berlin, Urbana, Belleville, St. Peter, Elkville and Harrisburg. Corn trials were conducted at Mt. Morris, DeKalb, Fenton, Monmouth, New Berlin, Dwight, Goodfield, Urbana, St. Peter and Belleville. The corn trials included various insecticide seed treatments, genetic trials, herbicide trait trials and non-GMO products. Yields are reported for each hybrid, and oil, protein and starch from select sites also are noted. The soybean trials featured herbicide traits and conventional varieties and various seed treatments. Yields along with protein and oil content are documented for each variety. This year’s trials featured 189 corn hybrids and 236 soybean varieties.
TOWANDA, Ill. — Farmland represents over 81% of farm sector assets and values stayed relatively static through the first half of 2019. Farmland values are impacted by a myriad of factors beyond just demand and the overall agriculture economy. David Klein, First Mid Ag Services vice president, managing broker and auctioneer, provided the seven issues affecting farmland values during First Mid Ag Services Field Day. Here are the seven issues not in any particular order of importance as presented by Klein. 1. Next generation enterprise systems. Klein said First Mid Ag Services is receiving calls from those interested in growing organically and calls from outside of the area from people interested in buying land to grow industrial hemp, both a source of demand for buyers of farmland. Another demand source is the livestock and land combinations for constructing large hog confinement buildings, perhaps buying more “B” type soils and then using the manure from that, as well, and that could be for an organic or conventional standpoint. They’re looking for moderately priced land base to service the needs for livestock. Wind energy is another piece of the land demand equation. Those dollars get reinvested quite often in more farmland. See LAND, Page A5
Root for success Not too late for cover crop By Tom C. Doran
AGRINEWS PUBLICATIONS
Darin Joos, University of Illinois principal research specialist, saw a wide range of results in the annual variety testing trials this year. LATE PLANTING As with all farmers in Illinois, it also was a struggle to plant the trial plots this year due to spring rains and, as a result, a push to a later harvest. “I think the yields were surprising in some places. It’s definitely a different year because of the timing of everything, but there was still some unexpected high yields and unexpected low yields,” said Darin Joos, U of I principal research
specialist. Corn was planted at six locations April 24-25. After weather delays, the testing team was able to plant more corn May 15-20 and then finished in early June. “In the northern tier, we abandoned one of the locations because it flooded out early and there was really no replant opportunities,” Joos said. See TRIALS, Page A5
BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Thanksgiving is just around the corner, but the window is still open to plant a cereal rye cover crop. “Cereal rye is a really hardy cover crop in the fact that it can still germinate at 32 degrees, so even getting it seeded late in the fall, you might get a little bit of growth in the fall but you’ll see some early spring growth that can be really good, as well. Those green roots, those living roots in the soil that really help hold that in place and keep everything there,” said Megan Dwyer, Illinois Corn Growers Association nutrient loss reduction manager. “2019 is a year a lot of us would like to forget, but there are some lessons to be learned. One of those is we’re seeing more extremes with weather events, especially with water, and we need to be really conscious of how we’re managing that and things that we can do. See ROOT, Page A4