Featured in this newsletter are several articles to help you continue your 2026 growing season successfully. Additionally, browse field days and upcoming events. Read below and visit our website to learn more.

How to Build a Partnership with a Custom Operator 

Hiring help to do custom operations continues in many ways on today’s farms and takes careful consideration and planning to ensure success for everyone involved. Those partnerships can be with family, friends, neighbors, or hired help to ensure farming activities are completed in a timely manner.

Pointers for Using Disease Forecasting Tools to Make Better In-Season Management Decisions

As we move deeper into the growing season, fungicide application decisions become one of the biggest sources of stress for farmers across the Midwest. Between aggressive marketing, endless online opinions, and an expanding list of fungicide products, determining whether, and when, to spray can feel overwhelming.

2025 Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program Annual Report

Read insights into the 2025 nitrogen management trials that farmers across Wisconsin are doing on real farms with grant funding from DATCP and the State of Wisconsin. 

Tar Spot Is Back in Wisconsin. Don’t Panic—Get Ready!

Tar spot has officially been confirmed in Wisconsin during the 2026 growing season, with a positive detection in Lafayette County. 

Help Shape the Future of the WiscWeeds Program

Since joining the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2018, WiscWeeds' goal has been to build a research and Extension program that helps corn and soybean farmers, crop consultants, Extension educators, industry professionals, and students make better weed management decisions. Now, help the WiscWeeds team by taking their 10-minute survey.

POST Herbicide Applications During This Week’s Heat

With temperatures expected to be very hot in Wisconsin this week, several questions have come in regarding POST herbicide applications in soybean.

Listen: Hops Production with Randy Urness of Fine Bine Farms (Part II)

An update from Randy Urness of Fine Bine Farms about what he’s seeing in his hop yard right now and doing for management.

SnapPlus Version 3 Webinar Training Series

Continues through August
Various Dates and Locations from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Join Extension and DATCP to walk through some of the newest features in SnapPlus Version 3 (V3). Each free webinar will have a 45-60 minute tutorial on a new SnapPlus feature, followed by a 30 minute open office hour where participants will have the ability to meet one-on-one with staff to ask specific questions and get additional information. Webinar topics include adding crops, setting rotations, understanding planting and application seasons; nutrient systems and template building; annual updates; silurian bedrock plan features; winter manure applications; and grazing.

Badger Crop Connect Webinar Series

April – Oct., Second and Fourth Thursdays of the month
Next webinar July 23 at 12:30 p.m. 

Get real-time expert management tips for your or your clients’ fields. Join our webinars to hear from UW–Madison corn, soybean, small grain, and forage management researchers throughout the Wisconsin growing season. Earn free CCA credits for every webinar you attend.

2026 WiscWeeds Integrated Waterhemp Management Plot Tour

July 24 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Brooklyn

During the morning, we'll share our latest WiscWeeds research findings on integrated waterhemp management in Wisconsin corn and soybean production systems. You'll hear directly from the WiscWeeds students and staff conducting the research as they discuss waterhemp ecology and herbicide resistance, herbicide tank mixtures, cover crops, emerging soybean technologies, and other integrated management strategies.

Manure Composting Management for Profit, Siting Considerations, and Spreading Demonstrations

Aug. 5
Lancaster

Livestock producers and agency staff are invited to attend a free field day on manure composting management. Learn the ins and outs of manure composting and the benefits it offers soil health, the environment, and your wallet.

Soybean Gall Midge Scouting Field Day

Aug. 7
River Falls

This free afternoon field day provides hands-on training in identifying, scouting, and managing soybean gall midge, an emerging and economically important pest in Midwest soybean systems.

Feeding High-Oleic Soybeans to Dairy Cows Field Days

Aug. 18, Aug. 25, and Aug. 31 
Various Locations

Dairy farmers, consultants, and service providers are invited to attend field days focused on feeding high-oleic soybeans to dairy cattle. There will be multiple field days hosted across Wisconsin.

DATCP 2026 Nutrient Management Regional Meetings

Aug. 19 (Jefferson), Sept. 1 (Wausau), Sept. 2 (Appleton), Sept. 9 (Eau Claire), Sept. 15 (Dodgeville)

Join DATCP, NRCS, Extension, and the SnapPlus team for a day of nutrient management updates and planning guidance. Meetings run from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m., followed by an optional SnapPlus V3 training from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. 

Agronomy and Soils Field Day: Registration Now Open!

Aug. 26
Arlington Agricultural Research Station

Join UW–Madison grain agronomy, field crop pathology, weed management, soils, forage, and farm economics researchers for a half-day field-based tour of the latest ongoing trials and research updates.

Weed Management Workshop

Sept. 2
Arlington Agricultural Research Station

Join Extension and the WiscWeeds team for a full day of weed management skill sharing, learning, and further understanding mechanisms of weed control in a resistant era. 

Wisconsin Vegetable Crop Update Newsletter

Veggie producers, sign up to receive tailored updates from the UW–Madison Departments of Plant Pathology, Entomology, Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences, and Soil and Environmental Science. 

Sign up by contacting Dr. Amanda Gevens.

Wisconsin Fruit News

Fruit producers, sign up to receive tailored updates from the UW–Madison Fruit Program. Sign up and read more here.

Field Notes - DATCP's Pest Survey Program Newsletter

Sign up to receive pest monitoring data and maps, current articles on economically important plant pests affecting Wisconsin's field crops, fruits, vegetables, nurseries, and forests. Sign up on DATCP's website or read newsletters on the web here.  

UW–Madison Division of Extension Crops and Soils Program

Find articles, resources, educational events and more at cropsandsoils.extension.wisc.edu

The University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming in compliance with state and federal law.

Partially supported by National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Crop Protection and Pest Management-Extension Implementation Program award number 2024-70006-43559.