Drought has been prevalent in the northern and western portions of the Corn Belt in recent growing seasons, while southern parts of the Midwest have seen flooding. Cover crops impact both wet and dry soils in the spring.

At very low temperatures (<40F), germination of alfalfa seed is much slower when compared to 40 to 50 F. This University of Minnesota study found that at 32 F, it took 15 days to reach 50% germination. At 50 F, 50% of seeds germinated in just 3 days. Individual seedlings will emerge slowly at low temperatures, meaning a long, staggered period of emergence, while at higher temperatures seedlings will emerge more uniformly.

University of Nebraska educators offer a bevy of tips on how to evaluate alfalfa stands, manage winter injury and navigate through drought conditions. 

Nitrate leaching is a major concern in coarse-textured agricultural soils because it can cause economic losses for farmers and contaminate groundwater. While some nitrate leaching may be inevitable when growing corn on sandy soils, there are several management strategies that can be implemented to limit nitrate loss. Here are some key takeaways from a recent five-year study looking at three major factors impacting nitrate leaching: drainage, nitrogen availability, and cropping system.

The recent cold temperatures experienced during 31 March – 14 April 2022 were enough to cause freeze damage to winter wheat in parts of Kansas. The actual freeze damage will be region-specific depending on crop growth stage and minimum temperatures (some regions had a worst combination of temperatures and crop growth stage) and, within a region, field specific owing to many individual aspects such as crop density, residue level, etc. While there is nothing that we can do immediately, growers can prioritize fields where they sample for freeze damage symptoms depending on conditions that were more likely to result in freeze damage.