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.

Soybean Extension Specialists from across the U.S. have been working together on the Science for Success initiative, funded by United Soybean Board, focused on leveraging local expertise to provide national soybean best management practices.

Legumes still can provide valuable N to today’s cropping systems. Legumes also contribute a non-nitrogen rotation effect due to addition of soil organic matter and improvement in soil health. Corn grown following alfalfa stands that are 2+ years old (and contained at least 50% alfalfa) require no nitrogen fertilizer on many soils. Red clover N credits are less than for alfalfa.

The study looked a pumpkin plots in Kansas, where the Halloween staple is frequently grown in rotation following soybeans, and are a staple of agritourism, according to the study published in the Soil Science Society of America Journal.

Several months ago experts from Purdue University discussed the herbicide shortage for the 2022 growing season and outlined a couple of scenarios where growers can switch to alternative herbicides to accomplish the same weed control objectives. In this article, they discuss some options for fields that have a mixture of cover crop species growing in them and how to effectively terminate the cover crops before corn or soybean production.