Early Emergence in Soy is a Yield Booster

Early emergence in soy is the exciting and mostly untested assumption that farmers can realize more yield by getting the young plants to emerge (1) as early as possible, (2) as quickly as possible and (3) as uniformly as possible. Dr. Ron Heiniger and Dr. Jim Dunphy at North Carolina State University think that early…

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Donate Deer to Feed the Hungry and Help Farmers

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation and the N.C. Tobacco Trust Fund Commission have partnered on a program to help farmers manage whitetailed deer through hunting and to help local food banks through donations of venison.  The program works through local civic organizations, youth groups and hunt clubs that seek to encourage donations of venison to…

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Does Early Planting Justify a Seed Treatment?

With many soybean growers in North Carolina exploring earlier planting dates and earlier maturity groups we often get the question, “Should I be using a seed treatment?”. So to help answer that question the NC Soybean Producers Association funded research with Dr. Rachel Vann and the NC State Soybean Extension team.  Over the last few…

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Do You Want to be the Next ASA Dupont Young Leader?

The American Soybean Association (ASA) and DuPont Pioneer are seeking applicants for the 2014 Young Leader Program. Now in its historic 30th year, the ASA DuPont Young Leader program is recognized throughout agriculture for its tradition of identifying and cultivating farmer leaders who are shaping not only the U.S. soybean industry but all of agriculture.…

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Do Seed Treatments Pay on Soybean in North Carolina?

With consideration given to the value of numerous seed treatments being applied to soybeans, it is important to know what seed treatments have merit and why seed treatments should be used.  The soybean board asked a consortium of private agronomists to run field trials on common seed treatments. Traditionally molybdenum and bacterium to aide rhizobium…

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Do Nitrogen Applications Pay?

Last week we discussed some basics of soybean fertility (catch up here if you missed it). We know how important sufficient levels of P and K are but do soybeans need N upfront or in-season? Unlike most of our other crops soybeans have the ability to obtain their own nitrogen through N fixation. N fixation is the process…

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Do Fungicides Really Pay for Themselves in N.C. Soybean Production?

Do fungicides pay for themselves in North Carolina soybean production?  The soybean board asked a consortium of private agronomists to explore this question.  The group includes Tidewater Agronomics, Fowler Crop Consulting, McLawhorn Crop Services, Protech Advisory Services, and IMPACT Agronomics.  The research was funded by the soybean board and conducted on private research farms across…

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Do Foliar Fungicides Pay and When?

“Should I apply a foliar fungicide and if so, when?” is a question North Carolina soybean growers struggle with every year. Application of a foliar fungicide can help reduce disease pressure and protect yield potential, but they are costly. With low commodity prices, growers are looking to reduce costs. Are fungicides a smart investment? To…

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Diversity Is Key To Weed Management

Many of you are probably familiar with the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association’s effort to eliminate herbicide resistant weeds, Weed Free NC. This campaign promotes taking a zero tolerance approach to getting rid of these weeds from pre-season field preparation and the use of pre-emergent products to post-emergent products before weeds are too large to…

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Dicamba Regulations for 2018

As growing season begins, it’s an important reminder that the EPA has classified three formulations of dicamba as Restricted Use Pesticides for 2018, BASF’s Engenia®, DuPont’s FeXapanTM and Monsanto’s XtendiMax®. As a Group 4 herbicide, and one of only a few in this site of action available for post-emergence use in soybeans, it’s an important…

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