EPA is proposing stricter standards for people certified to use restricted-use pesticides and additional specialized licensing for certain methods of application, such as fumigation and aerial application.

We have been receiving reports since corn harvest began this fall about an unusual phenomenon: yields of the outside 8 to 24 rows on the south or west edges of corn fields show lower or much lower yields than corn farther into the field.

Watching an airplane that traditionally is used to spray row crops during the summer, more than 50 people, consisting of grain growers, agribusinesses and farming organizations, gathered north of Webster City Tuesday to watch a demonstration of aerial seeding of winter rye in a cornfield that was yet to be harvested.

Reports are coming in from no-till farmers who cannot find seedlings in fields that received aerial application of cover crop seeds in late summer.

An option for getting an earlier establishment on fall seeded cover crops is to over-seed.