John Deere announced today an alliance with Dawn Equipment Company, Inc., a manufacturer specializing in ground engaging tools and active control systems for planters. The alliance allows John Deere to sell and support Dawn hydraulic-controlled down-force systems, row cleaners, and closing wheels for planters.

Gary Woodruff, product marketing specialist with Grain Systems Inc., introduces the company's GSI Vision Controls, with a new WatchDog system option, allowing farmers to monitor and control temperature and output rate of their grain dryer through a smart phone or tablet.

Avon, Ohio strip-tiller Larry Krystowski shares his approach to successfully strip-tilling corn in twin rows and how it's allowed him to push corn planting populations to 45,000 seeds per acre, while maintaining yields near 200 bushels per acre.

The planting delays and wet soil conditions will increase the potential for sidewall compaction to occur. Sidewall compaction includes all soil compaction and soil smearing in and around the seed furrow, and can restrict root growth and reduce crop yields. Sidewall compaction typically occurs when planting into soils that are too wet, planting too shallow and setting too much down pressure on the gauge wheels and closing wheels. Sidewall compaction is never beneficial and will be the most detrimental when the soil becomes dry after planting.

DuPont Pioneer and AGCO Corp. announced a global collaboration to bring wireless data transfer technology solutions to farmers in leading agricultural markets, including the United States, Canada, Brazil and key European countries.

Trelleborg is to open its first North American manufacturing facility dedicated to the manufacture of premium radial tires for agricultural machinery.

Environmental Tillage Systems, Inc. (ETS) has added two team members to its growing staff. Scott Opsahl joined the company in January as the Senior Engineer and Naomi Mortensen came on board in April as the Marketing Director. These additions align with ETS' goal of hiring and cultivating talent to continue providing quality products and services to its customers. ETS is not only in the business of building quality

Along with the cool spring and slow start to the growing season, there have been many days with windy conditions. Keep in mind the objectives of any spray application are to balance productivity, efficacy, and prevent off-site movement of pesticides. In some situations, this can be easier said than done. Below are several things to consider to help reduce particle (not necessarily, vapor) spray drift.

Being able to predict when a field of corn will reach particular leaf stages can be useful for scheduling post-emergence applications of certain herbicides and sidedress N fertilizer, especially if your farming operation is so large that regular field inspections are difficult to work into your busy schedule. Leaf stage can be predicted on the basis of heat unit accumulation (aka growing degree days) from planting to the date in question.