Slug ecology and management in no-till field crops

As acreage of row crops managed with conservation tillage increases, more growers are encountering slugs, elevating their importance as crop pests. Slugs can eat virtually all crops, and they are challenging to control because ...

Study probes sources of Mississippi River phosphorus

In their eagerness to cut nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico, people have often sought simple explanations for the problem: too many large animal operations, for instance, or farmers ...

April showers bring May glowers from N.Y. growers

The first of May in upstate New York usually finds fields plowed, corn planted and apple trees sprouting leaves. But this year's record April rainfall -- 7.31 inches in Ithaca, more than double the 3.29-inch 30-year average, ...

Combating USDA's top-ranked invasive insect

First detected in the United States a decade ago, the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is now in at least 39 states, is wreaking havoc in homes and gardens, and is a major economic threat to orchard fruits, garden vegetables ...

Lower nitrogen losses with perennial biofuel crops

Perennial biofuel crops such as miscanthus, whose high yields have led them to be considered an eventual alternative to corn in producing ethanol, are now shown to have another beneficial characteristic–the ability to reduce ...

Cuphea Does Wonders for Wheat and Corn in Rotations

(PhysOrg.com) -- Growing the oilseed plant called cuphea the year before growing wheat results in better wheat seedling survival and grain that is 8 percent higher in protein, according to an Agricultural Research Service ...

Prairie strips transform farmland conservation

Modern agriculture's large monoculture fields grow a lot of corn and soybeans, planted annually. The outputs from row crops can be measured both in dollars paid in the market and also in non-market costs, known as externalities. ...

Corn could help farmers fight devastating weed

Versatile and responsive to management, corn is grown throughout the world for everything from food to animal feed to fuel. A new use for corn could soon join that list, as researchers in China investigate the crop's ability ...

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