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.
Soils, Nutrient Management & Soil Health
Extension specialists and educators provide timely resources and information to help Wisconsin crop producers and their agricultural consultants manage crops efficiently and profitably.
Articles
▶ 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.
Preventing future weed infestations by managing drown out areas
In spots, too much water accumulated and led to drowned out spots and in some cases even entire fields. In spots, these areas were re-planted. In other areas, troublesome weeds like waterhemp are quickly escaping and will likely produce plenty of seed before a killing frost occurs.
▶ Watch: Fall Cover Crop Selection
In the September 11, 2024 Badger Crop Connect webinar, Dr. Matt Ruark discussed cover crop species most likely to establish successfully when planted in mid-September and later, as well as cover crop termination, timing, biomass accumulation, and nitrogen uptake.
▶ Watch: Managing Potassium in Crops
In this video, Chris Clark and Jordan Kampa, outreach specialists for the UW-Madison Extension Nutrient & Pest Management program head to the field to talk about managing potassium in crops and the publication they co-authored on the Potassium Cycle, available now from the NPM program.
Crop Nutrients 101
This publication is an overview of essential plant nutrients and the ways they interact with one another. Farmers and agronomists can use this guide as a tool in conjunction with a good soil testing program to help diagnose agronomic problems and consider their nutrient management strategy.
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.
How can soil sampling affect lab results?
Given the importance to crop and soil health and crop productivity, the accuracy of soil test results cannot be overstated. Whether you take your own soil samples or have the fertilizer dealer sample your fields for you, how soil is collected really matters.
▶ Watch: How Grassed Waterways Work
Dr. Mallika Nocco, UW-Madison Extension specialist in agrohydrology, and Landon Baumgartner, outreach specialist for the UW-Madison Extension Nutrient and Pest Management program for Southwest Wisconsin discuss the basics of grassed waterways, their function, and how they could fit on your farm.
Field Notes Episode 21: A Farmer’s Take on the Dollars & Sense of Conservation Agriculture
In the second episode of this two-fer on the economics of conservation, we talk with Jake Kaderly, who works as a crop consultant under the name Kaderly Ag and farms 330 acres in Green County, for the farmer’s take on how he pencils out conservation practices.
Field Notes Episode 20: An Economist’s Take on the Dollars & Sense of Conservation Agriculture
In the first episode of this two-fer on the economics of conservation, we talk with Jeff Hadachek, Extension Specialist and Assistant Professor of Ag Economics at UW-Madison, to get the economist’s take on why economics is a useful tool when talking about conservation practices and adoption.