This springs cool, wet weather is making it difficult for Iowa farmers to plant their soybeans and making it easier for a well-known pest to affect this years crop. Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), a soil-borne fungus, is a disease that is highly dependent on the weather and the resistance level of the planted soybean varieties.

With soil moisture conditions extremely low, especially at subsurface levels, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) agronomist Jason Miller of Pierre suggested that producers in South Dakota eliminate any unnecessary tillage whatsoever.

Regular hay and silage cutting leads plant residues diminishing at the detriment of soil health, but a farming family in North Dakota profess to have a solution, reports the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service.