The Red River Farm Network Crop Tour, presented by Pioneer, made its way through southeastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota Tuesday. RRFN farm broadcasters Carah Hart and Megan Overby started the day at Oakes, North Dakota at Gerner Ag. Kyle Gerner’s irrigated corn plot was hit by hail August 23. Leaves were stripped, but Gerner remains hopeful about this corn. “There is a little Goss’s Wilt starting to show up. With (hail) injury like this, we’ll see more come in. This was a fairly narrow band of hail, so I don’t see much of a disease hit this year.” Northern Corn Rootworm has been seen in the region. The interview can be found online.
The second stop of the day was with Ryan Lyons at Timber Coulee Seed and Insurance at Lisbon, North Dakota. With the very wet conditions, there was a lot of ground that didn’t get planted this spring. “For what conditions we had, the crop looks wonderful,” said Lyons. “Some of the beans got in fairly early and they will be really good.” Most of the corn is in the dent stage. Silage chopping is happening in the region. See the interview on RRFN’s Facebook page.
Adam Ladwig hosted RRFN at Forman, North Dakota. Ladwig described a familiar situation for the local crop. “It started relatively wet and the name of the game has been PP; we’re probably 50 percent PP across the area.” Ladwig says the soybean pod fill looks very good. There has been insect pressure, but generally not at treatable levels. “It’s been a fantastic year for growing beans. You’ll hear all the details in the Facebook Live interview.
Nearly all of the crop was planted in the Wyndmere, North Dakota area, but, Greg Selzer says it was a challenge. “We had a roller coaster beginning. Everyone had somewhere to go initially to plant corn and soybeans, but then we hit a brick wall. We had a lot of corn stalks from last year and guys also fought frost.” Selzer describes the current crop as “phenomenal.” With the recent heat, Selzer says the soybean harvest will be ahead of normal “if there is such a thing these days.” Watch Selzer’s interview.
Mother Nature has been busy this year. In the extreme southeastern corner of North Dakota, there are fields that are too wet and others that are too dry. Hail and green snap have been seen. Yet for Danny Walter at Fairmont, “right now, cross my fingers, we’re sitting pretty good right here.” Walter says some new diseases have been seen locally with Sudden Death Syndrome and Brown Stem Rot. There are numerous trait packages available today. “When you get south of me, there’s more of the Xtend or Roundup planted. From my area north and east, it is almost entirely Liberty. And everybody is looking at going the Enlist route.” Here’s the entire interview with Walter.
South of Casselton, Cody Nelson oversees Back Country Ag. Nelson sees a lot of potential with the corn crop. “Soybeans look good, too, they’ve really taken off this past month.” That’s positive news considering the limited amount of field preparation last fall. Nelson has seen some insect issues. “We’ve seen aphids and thistle caterpillars and some bean leaf beetles, but not at the level where people had to go out and spray.” Here’s the report with Nelson.
Pioneer territory manager Matt Wilson covers extreme southeastern North Dakota, northeast South Dakota and west-central Minnesota. Wilson said there is a lot of prevented plant ground in the northern part of that territory. “Down in the Milbank-Watertown area, we’ve been lacking on rains. Get over to Minnesota from Marietta to Appleton, they’ve caught a little bit more rain and yield trends there should be a little above average.” Sudden Death Syndrome and Brown Stem Rot have been seen in soybeans. Wilson’s interview can be heard here.
Recapping the Tuesday tour, Pioneer Assistant Territory Manager Becca Ahrendsen said it was “awesome” to see the progress in southeastern North Dakota. Prevented plant acreage are evident throughout the area, but Ahrendsen says west central Minnesota and northeastern South Dakota generally look good. “Enlist will be very big for Pioneer going into the 2021 growing season and Qrome products as well.” See Ahrendsen’s interview online.
The Red River Farm Network Crop Tour presented by Pioneer will be in the southern Red River Valley Wednesday.