This week’s University of Minnesota Extension Minnesota CropCast has as its guest Dr. Kenneth Blumenfeld, Senior Climatologist, Minnesota State Climate Office. Kenny provides an update about this season’s unusually excessive precipitation and its effect on the state’s field crops. In addition, Kenny discusses in detail that this winter and spring’s weather represents some unusual extremes not only in precipitation but also in atmospheric temperatures. Kenny also reviews how the warm but very dry conditions across Minnesota in January and February of 2024, led to a more active pattern and brought much wetter conditions to the state during the spring, along with continued warmth. Meteorological Spring, March through May, exceeded the 1991-2020 average (or "normal") precipitation across all of Minnesota, with about half the state exceeding normal precipitation by over 50%.

March began on a very dry note, with extreme warmth. Kenny points to several excellent examples of the extreme variability of recent weather events such as in the Twin Cities, where a run of 33 days with no measurable precipitation that began on February 16th and continued through March 20th. This became the 2nd longest streak without measurable precipitation on record and lead to the opportunity for early season spring field work in out-state, Minnesota.

More recently, the proportion of Minnesota with above-normal precipitation grew to about 90% during April, with only the far north and a small part of the southeast coming in dry. However, by contrast, only 14 out of 30 days with measurable precipitation in the Twin Cities were warmer than normal for the date, meaning that wet days were slightly more likely to be cool. Season long, spring was warm, but it likely would have been even warmer without the switch to wet conditions, thus explaining the recent slower emergence of weeds and some field crops due to lower temperatures.

In episode 35 Dave Nicolai and Seth Naeve chat with Dr. Jeff Coulter, University of Minnesota Extension Corn Agronomist about early season precipitation, soil crusting and plant assessment of the 2024 corn crop in Minnesota. In addition, Seth, U of MN Extension Soybean Specialist, discussed how these same factors can affect soybean fields this spring. Jeff discussed delayed corn planting dates, desired soil conditions, corn planting populations and when to change corn maturity hybrid planting dates. Seth also discussed in detail the results of delayed soybean planting date research and recommendations for soybean planting populations.

Both Jeff and Seth referenced the University of Minnesota Extension Crop Management Web pages for Corn https://extension.umn.edu/corn/corn-planting and Soybeans https://extension.umn.edu/soybean/soybean-planting as excellent starting points to review guidelines, best practices and potential issues for planting as well as seeding rates based on University of Minnesota applied research trials.

In summary: Jeff discussed May and June corn planting windows, survival of flooded corn, populations that are adequate when not at optimal levels and recommendations for supplemental nitrogen fertilizer if needed. Seth discussed the scouting of early planted soybeans under weather stress, how recent rains were actually beneficial to alleviating some soil crusting and the awareness that seed treatments, while helpful, are not considered a long-term season long protection if wet soil conditions are excessive. Seth referred to the U of MN soybean management web pages which indicate that soybean planting in general as of May 22ndt can result in 90-95% of maximum yield while dropping to less than 90% of maximum yield as of May 29.

This week’s CropCast from University of Minnesota Extension has as its guests, Liz Stahl, Extension educator - crops, and Dr. Bob Koch, Extension soybean entomologist and Director of Extension’s Institute for Agricultural Professionals. Liz provided an overview of the online U of MN Extension’s Strategic Farming program which is designed to address crop-related concerns in a weekly, research-based webinar with specialists in the field. Liz described how Strategic Farming's summer program, Field Notes, features live, interactive discussions with crop specialists addressing in-season issues as they arise. The series began May 8 and will continue through August on Wednesdays from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Crop producers and other ag professionals are invited to join for timely topics including weather, insect and disease issues, soil fertility concerns, agronomics, and more. You need to register only once to attend any or all webinars. Recordings of Field Notes sessions will be available as a podcast shortly after each live session at z.umn.edu/strategic-farming.

Bob provided an overview of the 2024 Field School for Ag Professionals, which will be held July 30 and 31 at the University of Minnesota Agriculture Experiment Station in St. Paul. This two-day, in-field summer event combines hands-on, interactive training with real-world field scenarios. The Field School program is targeted toward agronomists, crop production retailers, seed dealers, consultants, crop protection industry representatives, Extension educators, government agency personnel, and summer field scouts. The first day of the Field School program focuses on core principles in agronomy, entomology, weed and soil sciences to build a strong foundation of skills and knowledge. The second day builds on this foundation with timely, cutting-edge topics that participants can self-select. Bob provided an in-depth discussion of the Field School sessions during the podcast. Detailed session descriptions of educational sessions and registration information may also be found at: https://extension.umn.edu/event/field-school-ag-professionals.