Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events with Cover Crops
This article considers how cover crops can contribute to the adaptive management of extreme weather events like droughts, floods, extreme precipitation, and extreme soil temperature fluctuations.
Grain Production and Management
Extension specialists and educators provide timely resources and information to help Wisconsin crop producers and their agricultural consultants manage crops efficiently and profitably.
Articles
Mycotoxins: Beware of this hidden danger in this fall’s harvest
In Wisconsin, it seemed like every passing rain cloud dropped an inch or more of rain, and those clouds just kept coming. Combine record moisture in some areas with high humidity and clouds, and it was the perfect storm for slugs, molds, and diseases to infiltrate our crop fields and cause damage.
▶ Watch: Biological Nitrogen Products
In the September 25, 2024 Badger Crop Connect webinar, Dr. Steven Hall, Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist in the UW–Madison Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, discussed the context, challenges, and potential opportunities for biological nitrogen fixation products in cereal crops.
▶ Watch: Meet Dr. Harkirat Kaur, UW Corn Agronomist
In the September 11, 2024 Badger Crop Connect webinar, Dr. Harkirat Kaur, a new extension specialist at UW–Madison, introduced herself and shared her background, education, and research experiences.
▶ Watch: Corn Silage Observations
In the September 11, 2024 Badger Crop Connect webinar, Kevin Jarek discussed the challenges faced in corn silage and dry down this year.
Elevate your knowledge of the potassium cycle
This comprehensive resource provides a visual overview of the potassium (K) cycle and breaks down the crucial role K plays in soils and crop growth to help you optimize your crop yield.
6 common traits of top-yielding fields
Many factors affect crop yield; only one of them is fertilizer. The six factors listed here have a strong relationship with consistently better-yielding areas of a farm field.
▶ Watch: Wheat and Soybean in 2024: When grains do the hokey-pokey
The July 24 Badger Crop Connect webinar featured Dr. Shawn Conley, Extension Soybean and Small Grains Agronomist and Professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Shawn discusses preliminary results from 2024 Wisconsin winter wheat performance trials including yield, test weight and disease presence data; cover crop challenges in 2024; and the status of soybean stands across Wisconsin.
▶ Watch: Midseason Disease Update
The July 24 Badger Crop Connect webinar featured Dr. Damon Smith, Extension field crops pathologist and Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Damon gives an update on what diseases he’s seeing in Wisconsin farm fields in late July 2024. He mainly discusses white mold in soybean and tar spot in corn and management practices for each.
Cover crop options after small grains and processing crops
Harvesting small grains or processing crops in the summer months provides a great opportunity to plant a variety of cover crop species that can achieve several different benefits or goals such as soil erosion protection, nitrogen (N) supply to subsequent grain crops, and weed suppression.
▶ Watch: Managing Tar Spot in Corn
Damon Smith, UW–Madison Extension field crops pathologist, and Michael Geissinger, outreach specialist with UW-Madison Extension Nutrient & Pest Management in Northwest Wisconsin, talk about the conditions this year, what that means for tar spot development, and management considerations for controlling it if it shows up in your field.
DON Considerations for Wheat Grown for Livestock Feed
DON (deoxynivalenol or vomitoxin) is a mycotoxin produced by the fungus responsible for Fusarium Head Blight (FHB), a common and economically important disease in small grains. DON is a problem because it is toxic to humans and animals. Grain grown on-farm and fed to livestock should be managed properly to avoid negative effects.
