By Mark Badertscher
Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator
I hope harvest has gone well for you since the previous edition of the Hardin County Agriculture and Natural Resources Update. Locally, most of the corn is now off, with about 20% still in the fields.
I have heard moisture ranging from 19-21 a week ago, with yields approaching 200 bushels per acre. Some corn is coming off even drier with the favorable November weather. Soybean harvest is now completed for the most part with most yields being reported around 60 bushels per acre. Cover crops are still being seeded, manure being spread, fertilizer is being applied, and fall tillage is taking place in several area fields. See the latest Ohio Crop Weather report from November 13 to compare with rest of Ohio. Feel free to share your harvest information with me if you would like.
The big news in county agriculture is that the Hardin County Agriculture Hall of Fame has announced the 2023 honorees to be inducted at the twentieth annual Agriculture Hall of Fame recognition banquet. The 2023 inductees include: Robert Allen Barrett, Samuel and Marilyn Dalton, Wheeler McMillen, Harold Oberlitner, and Daniel J. Wagner. The banquet will be held on Tuesday, December 5th, beginning at 6:30 pm at St. John's Evangelical Church on East Carrol Street in Kenton. Tickets for the Hardin County Agriculture Hall of Fame Banquet must be purchased in advance through November 21. Tickets are $15 and can be reserved by calling the Hardin County Extension office (419-674-2297) or purchased from the committee members: Mark Badertscher, Doug Griffith, Gary Harpster, Genny Haun, John Knedler, Bob McBride, Zac McCullough, Kerry Oberlitner, and Bob Wood. See the attached news release for more information.
The 2023 Soil Health Tour goes live! This year’s tour is fully virtual, showcasing seven tour stops across Northwest Ohio with practices that promote soil health. We invite you to view the interactive StoryMap at go.osu.edu/SoilHealthTour2023/ and attend the wrap-up event on November 30th at the Paulding County Extension Office. A meal will be provided free of charge at the wrap-up event, but registration is required. Dr. Manbir Rakkar, statewide soil health and fertility specialist, will be the guest speaker for this event. Check out the attached flyer for more details.
A research team from The Ohio State University is looking for farmers based in the Maumee River Watershed who are interested in participating in a USDA-funded project designed to help better understand benefits and tradeoffs associated with integrating cover crops into corn-soybean rotations. A total of 16 fields will be needed for this project which meet the criteria of one of the following four treatment categories:
The project involves cover crops and their benefits/penalties in the Maumee River Watershed in NW Ohio. Volunteer fields should fit the criteria of one of the four treatment types:
• Fields in a corn-soybean rotation, with no history of winter wheat or cover crop integration (within the past 5 years).
• Fields in a corn-soybean rotation, with a recent history of winter wheat, but no history of cover crop integration.
• Fields in a corn-soybean rotation, and with less than 3 years of cover crop (specifically cereal rye) integration.
• Fields in a corn-soybean rotation, and with more than 5 years of cover crop (specifically cereal rye) integration.
Participants will not need to alter their management, and we will work to keep them informed regarding our in-field activities. Monthly data collection (for 2024-2025) will include soil, gas emissions, and minimal tissue/biomass sampling as well drone imagery. The only farmer input requirements will be calibrated yield/harvest data (but could also include any other information they would be willing to offer). We would be happy to talk to any interested parties and to provide any more information. We will be reaching out to those individuals whose fields might fit into the above categories. Let me know if you are interested in this project and I will put you in contact with the proper people. Read more about this project in the attached OSU-USDA Cover Crop Project Recruitment flyer.
I hope that you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday with your family and for those of you who are done with harvest and would like some additional reading, I have attached a few articles that may be of interest to you.
Harvest Delays - Light vs. Temperature - Alexander Lindsey, Aaron Wilson, Osler Ortez
There has been a lot of discussion about the crop yields from 2023 in Ohio, from early reports of crop stress in May and June to greater than anticipated yield values for many producers this fall. Yield reports of >110 bu/ac wheat harvested in July were reported in parts of Ohio, and better than anticipated yields in some corn and soybean fields while others have experienced lower than anticipated yield. Many questions have been raised on the role that haze from Canadian wildfires may have played on seasonal crop growth this year. Ohio experienced three major episodes of wildfire impacts on June 6-7, June 27-29, and July 16-17, with several more days throughout the two-month period of less intense smoke-filled skies. Get the full story at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2023-39/harvest-delay....
Harvest Complete? It's Time To Assess SCN Levels In Your Fields! - Horacio Lopez-Nicora
Soybean cyst nematode poses a significant threat to soybean production, with potential yield reductions occurring without visible symptoms. To effectively manage SCN, it is crucial to know the presence and population levels of this destructive pathogen in your fields. Fall presents an ideal opportunity for sampling soil and testing for SCN, allowing growers to plan ahead and implement effective management strategies. In this article, we highlight the importance of fall sampling for SCN and provide valuable resources available to Ohio growers. Read more about SCN fall sampling at https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2023-39/harvest-compl....
2023 Ohio Soybean Performance Trials: Results for All Trial Locations - Laura Lindsey, Allen Geyer
Results for the 2023 Ohio Soybean Performance Trials are available for all locations: https://stepupsoy.osu.edu/sites/hcs-soy/files/all%20yield%20data.pdf. We will update the report with seed protein, oil, and size as we finish analyzing samples. Sortable yield data will be available in the upcoming days on the Ohio Crop Performance Trials website: https://u.osu.edu/perf/. The purpose of the Ohio Soybean Performance Trials is to evaluate soybean varieties for yield and other agronomic characteristics. This evaluation gives soybean producers comparative information for selecting the best varieties for their unique production system.
