After a hearty lunch at the Monsanto Technology Showcase tour stop in Elkhart, IA, last week, growers got to hear from Palle Pederson, Iowa State University Soybean Extension Agronomist. Palle’s work focuses on soybean yields and profitability for growers.
Palle says the field day concept is a nice opportunity for growers to see new technology on display before they need to use it. I spoke with him before his presentation in which he decided to focus on what happened early in the season and what’s going on right now. He also intended to tell growers what they can expect for the rest of the season.
I asked him what he thought about crop conditions across Iowa. He said, “I don’t believe we have that good of crops as people are talking about. I don’t see it in either soybeans or corn.” He says the best crop conditions are in the northwest part of the state. Palle says the current cool weather isn’t helping growing conditions since they’re already 110 to 140 growing units behind a normal year. So part of his message to growers is, “We can’t increase yields right now but we can protect what we have.”
He recommends that growers get out and scout their fields since aphids are showing up in many areas. He believes that at this point, scouting is what it’s all about.
You can listen to my interview with Palle here: monsanto-tech-showcase-pederson.mp3