The Soil Health Exchange is a new discussion forum, designed to give producers and ag stakeholders an avenue for direct communication with some of Nebraska's leading soil health experts for help with their soil health concerns, interpreting test reports and more.
The Soil Health Exchange is a new online forum where producers and ag stakeholders can engage with a team of soil health experts to discuss production issues and ideas, get assistance with understanding test results, and more.
Nebraska Extension Educator Amy Timmerman explains how to conduct a push test to identify stalk rot before harvesting your corn fields.
Research Updates
In a dry edible bean plot at the UNL PREEC Mitchell Lab, Maria Alvarado, UNL graduate student, left, Kainyon Tay, head of the legume program in Chile, and Carlos Urrea, UNL dry bean breeder, look for desirable bean plants. (Photo by Chabella Guzman)
The best dry bean plants in the Nebraska Panhandle will soon be sent to researchers across the world as part of an ongoing international collaboration on cross-breeding.
Forage Production
When it comes to stalks residue, grain sorghum stover will retain nutrient grazing value longer than corn, so prioritize grazing corn residue first to achieve optimum nutrition.
Extension educators review important factors to consider when entering a land lease agreement, overgrazing pastures in preparation for interseeding legumes, and using drought-stressed crop residue as a feed source.
Ag Youth
Colfax County #2 team members participate in a discussion during the 2023 Regional Youth Crop Scouting Competition. After winning first place in the state competition, the team placed second in regionals.
All Nebraska youth who participated in the 2023 Regional Youth Crop Scouting Competition earned accolades for exhibiting their knowledge and skills in nine separate crop scouting exercises throughout the contest.
Partnering with Nebraska On-Farm Research Network, North Platte farmer Cameron Kolling is conducting research this year on interseeding a variety of cover crops in corn.
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln team working on the MICRA project includes (from left) Taro Mieno, agricultural economics; Daniel Schachtman, agronomy and horticulture; Saleh Taghvaeian, biological systems engineering; and Seunghee Kim, civil engineering. (Photo by Nick Kumpula, Research and Economic Development)
The research team will experiment with soil amendments and biochar to measure their impact on soil water-holding capacity to find ways to improve preservation of soil moisture in farm fields.
Soy2023, the Biennial Cellular and Molecular Biology of the Soybean Conference, was held Aug. 10-13 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Over 160 scientists from national and international public and private sector institutions exchanged ideas and research outcomes to assist soybean growers with improving production practices.
Crop Reports & AgNews
Historical crop progress data for Nebraska is available at USDA.
Harvest of Nebraska crops was ahead of average pace as of Sept. 24, with the exception of dry edible beans, which remained slightly behind last year's progress.
By the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, USDA, through the delivery of FSA programs, will have invested more than $19 billion in America’s agricultural producers with more economic support on the way in fiscal year 2024.
This week, FSA will issue more than $581 million in 2021 and 2022 drought and wildfire emergency relief to eligible ranchers, and $1.17 billion in crop disaster assistance.
Historical acreage reports for Nebraska are available at USDA.
In October, USDA NASS will begin surveying Nebraska producers on total acres planted and harvested, and total yield and production of row crops, to calculate county-level estimates.
Historical potato production reports for Nebraska are available at USDA.
The 2023 trials included an assortment of winter and spring peas from ProGene, Meridian Seeds, Seed Ranch and Valesco Genetics.
Dipak Santra, left, and other University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and graduate students in a plot of field peas at the UNL High Plains Ag Lab Field tour in June 2023. (Photo by Chabella Guzman)
The conference will cover a wide range of agronomic topics for field peas, chickpeas, black-eyed peas and other pulses, including management of nutrients and diseases, genetics, crop insurance, policy and more.