University scientists are wrapping up a second year of testing an algorithm that combines water supply, demand, and plant response to improve irrigation scheduling.
The National Weather Service on Tuesday classified a storm that hit South Dakota, Iowa and southern Minnesota Tuesday evening as a derecho. South Dakota weather stations reported winds reached as high as 99 mph around Howard, South Dakota, northwest of Sioux Falls. Winds across parts of Iowa hit 80 mph, though the storm weakened as it reached the eastern edge of Iowa.
After a tough planting season delayed by a late snowstorm, crop acreage in North Dakota and surrounding states is starting to look better than anticipated last month when analysts were forecasting high amounts of prevented-planting acres in the Northern Plains.
Commodity prices are up, but farmers in the Texas Panhandle will struggle to produce a crop under current drought conditions. As irrigation declines, they are also finding ways to adapt to more dryland crop production.
Farmers can take steps to mitigate potential soybean emergence issues due to lower-than-normal germination rates in some soybean seed varieties and lots this year.