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Farmers are looking beyond herbicides as resistant weeds continue to plague many Midwestern fields. Iowa State University Extension weed specialist Prashant Jha says the tools to combat weeds are limited. “Like when we deal with soybeans with glyphosate and PPO resistance, waterhemp populations are a concern. So there is a good bit of acceptance here in Iowa (by) producers regarding using some cultural strategies, and mechanical strategies even.” He tells Brownfield row-crop cultivation can be effective, and cover crops have shown promising weed suppression. ...      

@copyright2021 CadmiumCD With all the focus on sustainability in agriculture – one of the questions is, can it pay for practices that benefit the environment? The Nature Conservancy has partnered with American Farm Bureau to help producers reach sustainability goals. The Conservancy’s Dayna Gross says they look for incentives, risk and mitigation to help farmers, but also the R-O-I, “What are the economics of the return on investment for certain practices? We try not to be prescriptive but it’s sure helpful when you can point to practices and say this is going to pay off in three years or two years or one year or whenever.” Jack Scott with Nestle says technology is the key to sustainability and a huge opportunity for farmers, “I am watching, right now, so much going into technologies – developing technologies and so forth related to finding ways to support the farmer, make things more profitable, improve productivity.” Scott says the lack of accurate measurements of sustainability and the need to scale up those practices are among the challenges agriculture faces. ...      

Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures were sharply higher, supported by the week’s strength in boxed beef and spillover from feeders as traders got ready for what was expected to be a bullish set of cattle on feed numbers. February was $262 higher at $116.72 and April was up $2.57 at $122.52. Feeder cattle were sharply higher on the strength in beef and the drop in corn, along with pre-report position squaring. January was $1.37 higher at $137.25 and March was up $5.00 at $144.15. ...      

The Wisconsin Natural Resources Board heard more than four hours of testimony Friday on the state’s wolf hunting season… or lack of one this winter. Tyler Wenzloff with Wisconsin Farm Bureau asked the board for immediate DNR action establishing a wolf season yet this winter. “This is the same request we made to the agency with a coalition of other state agriculture groups back in October of 2020. We remain confused as to why the department has not moved more quickly to institute a season when it became clear the wolf was to be removed from the federal Endangered Species List.” Wenzloff told the board DNR already has the guidelines and statutes needed. ...