News

Crops in parts of the Eastern Corn Belt show significant improvement

A crop specialist says recent rains have helped some crops in the Eastern Corn Belt improve significantly.  Adam Byrne, FMC Technical Service Manager tells Brownfield there are still fields showing signs of stress, but for the most part crop shave rebounded quite well.  “A lot of them look a lot better than they did just a couple of weeks ago,” he says. 

He tells Brownfield there’s still a long way to go to get corn and soybeans to harvest and producers need to scout fields. “You have warmer conditions than you normally would have and insects will be a problem,” he says.  “We may not hit thresholds for any particular pest on their own, like Japanese beetle or grasshoppers or spider mites. But, if you have a cumulative effect of defoliating pests out there, it’s still might be time to act.”

Byrne says producers should also be on the lookout for disease pressure. “With soybeans, there’s frog leaf spot and Septoria,” he says.  “With corn, there’s Gray leaf spot, northern corn leaf blight, and there’s tar spot that’s popping up around the country.”

He says if crops are starting to show signs of pest or disease pressure – they should reach out to their local agronomist or crop specialist for more information.

AUDIO: Adam Byrne, FMC Technical Service Manager