Drenching rains since April 1 have endangered fertilizer nitrogen applied before that time, as well as nitrogen contributed by the soil.

An agricultural tool as small as a thumb can mean the difference between a 25 to 50 percent increase in yields or a 25 to 50 percent decline, according to an expert from Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Currently in West Texas, we are in one of the worst droughts since the 1930's and 1950's. We are now entering the third year of this drought. Recently, I did some research on the drought of the 1930's and 1950's. In my hometown of Plainview, Texas (average annual rainfall = 20.17 inches), our rainfall for 2011 and 2012 was 5.63 and 10.48 inches respectively. In comparison, the two lowest years of precipitation during the 1930's was 10.16 and 13.75 inches in 1933-1934 and for the 1950's was 11.29 and 10.39 inches in 1953-54.

Including starter fertilizer with any fertility program can play a big role in getting corn off to a vigorous start, but a key component to maximizing starter fertilizer applications involves managing the interplay between phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn).

Acid soils are becoming an important issue in Kansas, even in the western reaches of the state where most people think of high pH as a bigger issue.

Based on the results from the trials, strip-till looks promising for soybean production in 30-inch rows in Michigan, but the practice should be restricted to fields having slopes less than 5% to reduce water-erosion potential in the rows.

Placing fertilizer both shallow and deep, and planting in the middle of the berm, can maximize your strip-till corn yields.

Water has long been my chief adversary in farming. All of my acres have some roll to them and several areas on the farm are classified as highly erodible.

In this section of the ILF Strip-Tillage Crop Management video "Farmers' Perspective on Strip-Till" experienced Iowa strip-tillers offer their thoughts on a fertilizer program when using this conservation practice.

Queensland, Australia grain grower, Peter Howlett, uses an Orthman 1tRIPr pre-plant tillage tool, which combines strip till and nutrient placement at two depths in the one pass, prior to planting maize on his farm at Kumbia, west of Kingaroy.