Planting season is right around the corner and so are the pests.
Soybean cyst nematode causes problems for growers every year. A researcher explains why they are so hard to eradicate.
“The worm is about 100th of an inch long, and it’s confusing to people, perhaps also because it goes into the root and attaches to the vascular tissue of the soybean root, but then it swells up. The adult female eventually gets so big that she pops out of the root, and you can see her as a little white dot on the surface of the root. In fact, that’s one way we advise farmers and agronomists to check fields for SCN. Wait till five or six weeks after planting, and then, pretty much, through to August, maybe mid-August, dig roots and look for those little white females,” said Dr. Greg Tylka.
He warns nematode resistance will be a challenge in the future. The current resistance took around 20 years to fall apart.
ASFMRA’s Shawn Wood joins us to discuss farmland market trends, drought and water concerns, and the outlook for Arizona agricultural real estate.
Ag tech company Pairwise says genome editing tools are opening new doors for growers and expanding access to fruits and vegetables year-round.
Dr. Gary Schnitkey from the University of Illinois discusses farmers’ sentiment toward industry consolidation, especially in the fertilizer sector, where costs remain historically high.
USDA says total grain inspected for export reached 2.81 million metric tons for the week ending June 11.
Experts note that economic growth, fuel demand, and energy diversification are opening new opportunities for U.S. grain and ethanol exports in Southeast Asia.
The USDA’s new cotton initiative comes as policymakers continue to focus on stabilizing farm income across major row crops while balancing export exposure with domestic supply chain resilience.
