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Prioritize crop health in weather extremes

The Vice-President of Agri-Services with MFA Incorporated, a Missouri-based farm cooperative, says crop health is even more important in weather extremes.

Jason Weirich says while conditions are dry now in Missouri, conditions might not stay that way and diseases like common and southern rusts could be a risk. He says farmers should be ready to apply a fungicide.

“It’s not dry everywhere, so if we get moisture and other conditions, we could get some rust.”

He says timing is important for any fungicide application, waiting until the corn is in transition from tasseling to silking. Some Missouri corn fields have already started to tassel.

“That window is getting close. We do have uneven emergence out there and we’ve seen that in tassel. We want to get 80 to 90% of corn tasseled before applying any fungicide.”

Brownfield interviewed Weirich during a tour of the MFA River Valley Agronomy Center earlier this week.