Raven Industries announced today that it is awarding South Dakota State University (SDSU) with a historic gift of $5 million for the establishment of its Precision Agriculture Facility within the College of Agriculture and Biological Sciences on its main campus in Brookings, S.D.

Hot, dry conditions can wreak havoc on a field of soybeans. According to the National Center for Soybean Technology, “drought is the greatest threat to profitability.”

orn marketed at the standard moisture content of 15.5% and 56 pounds per bushel typically contains 47.3 pounds of dry matter and 8.7 pounds of water. At harvest, a farmer has to decide whether to sell (or even store) his corn at "as is" moisture content or mechanically dry before taking it to the buyer.

The majority of the 2014 wheat crop was very good, but ergot was a widespread problem. Many of the ergot-infested fields seemed to be those that matured later than most, such as some of the spring wheat, later-planted and later-maturing winter wheat varieties, and fields with thin stands. In at least one field of winter wheat, many of the heads containing ergot bodies were late tillers.

It has been a long cold winter with record low temperatures. This has led to some growers wondering if they still have to worry about plant diseases this growing season. As cold as it has been this winter, it may not have been cold enough for plant pathogens to die. Fungal pathogens have survival structures that enable them withstand very harsh weather conditions.

Short-term profitability on the no-till farm cannot be the main goal if a farmer wants to remain on the land he farms, says Dwayne Beck, research manager at South Dakota State University's Dakota Lakes Research Farm near Pierre, S.D.