As escalating corn prices have encouraged many farmers to switch to growing corn continuously, they wonder why they have been seeing unusually high yield reductions over the past several years.

Concerns about long-term shifts in climate patterns have led scientists to measure soil organic carbon (SOC) in agricultural landscapes and to develop methods to evaluate how changes in tillage practices affect atmospheric carbon sequestration.

Matt Hudson and Brian Diers, crop sciences researchers at the University of Illinois and Andrew Bent at the University of Wisconsin, think they may have found a way to strengthen plant resistance to soybean cyst nematodes.

The dry conditions and reductions in yield in many fields this season have resulted in lots of questions about plans for next year.

University of Illinois researchers identified the top pathogens, pests, and weeds affecting soybean production in a recent article in the journal Food Security.

Two weeks ago, corn prices were declining rapidly and we pondered the likelihood of a recovery similar to those of September 2010, November 2010, and March 2011.