The two winter annual weed species producing the purple patches in no-till fields around the Midwest are henbit and purple deadnettle.

Daviess County, Kentucky, farmer Myrel Trunnell, and son Kevin, farm approximately 1,200 acres in Utica, Kentucky.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent decision to approve Roundup Ready alfalfa renewed a debate about the safety of genetically modified crops and the use of glyphosate in the environment.

the same residue that can benefit a crop can also cause emergence stress in cold, wet springs if not properly managed. The issue can be further compounded in no-till continuous corn fields, where there can be a potential for diseases to harbor on last year’s crop residue.

This is a review of the key pathogens in the state that are very well managed with resistance – if the soybean variety has it.

As producers plan for the 2011 soybean growing season, many will make disease management a high priority because of the outbreaks of sudden death syndrome (SDS) in 2010.

When managing soybean production in no-till conditions, growers need to consider several management strategies, including variety selection, insect management, disease management, fertility management and weed management.

If you were one of the many Iowa farmers who were hit with Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS) disease in your soybean fields this year, doing tillage on that soil and trying to bury the crop residue is not a good long-term solution.

As fall is here and harvest is ending, growers across the region should take advantage of the opportunity to control winter annual and perennial weeds.