Cropping Issues in Northwest Minnesota

According to the Midwest Regional Climate Center 2.93 inches of precipitation, or 1.98 inches less than normal have fallen since March 1 at the University of Minnesota's Northwest Research and Outreach Center in Crookston.  As it takes some time for all of last fall and winter's precipitation to evaporate or run off from or infiltrate fields in northwest Minnesota, lower than average rain during planting was not a worry.

A weedy soybean field photographed in western Illinois in mid-June 2012 during a historic drought (photo: Angie Peltier). This article was written by University of Minnesota/NDSU Extension sugarbeet agronomist Dr. Tom Peters and originally posted in volume 5 of the 2020 NDSU Crop & Pest Report.  Many producers are planting. Producers have heard the messages from Extension, ag-retailers, and crop consultants to use soil applied herbicides since conditions are also correct for weed emergence. The question is should I apply a PRE herbicide and will PRE herbicides be stable following application, especially if rainfall is spotty the next 7 to 10 days.

Why soybean producers should care about SCN. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is a microscopic worm, the most yield limiting pathogen of soybean in the north central US and capable of causing up to 30% yield loss without conspicuous above-ground symptoms (Figure; Niblack and Riggs, 2015; Wang et al., 2003).  Of additional worry in the Red River Valley, research in Wisconsin and Iowa has shown that in alkaline soils SCN population densities tend to both get higher and be slower to fall with management (Pedersen et al., 2010). Figure. SCN cysts (white arrows). A sub-par field of soybean. You may recall that during the 2018 growing season the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council (MSRPC) sponsored an SCN sampling and education program.  Half of a couple that farm near the western edge of Red Lake County attended one of these MSRPC-sponsored SCN educational events that summer and brought home two sample bags.  She was determined to find out whether SCN could...

Figure. Daily low temperature (in degrees F; Map source: Midwest Regional Climate Center).

Northwest Minnesota weather resource.   We in northwest Minnesota have an incredible weather resource scattered throughout the region, the North Dakota Agricultural Weather Network (NDAWN) has 16 weather stations located on the Minnesota side of the Red River.  Let’s take a look at data from eleven of these Minnesota NDAWN stations and the station located in Grand Forks, ND to see how this spring’s temperatures relate to normal (Figure 1).