Spring crop management resources — small grains, forages, weed control, and more! |
Featured this month are several resources related to spring management on the farm, first alfalfa cuttings, and deepening our understanding of soil health. Read below and visit our website to learn more.
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Timely Articles and Resources |
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Based on Dr. Rodrigo Werle's experience in southern Wisconsin, PRE applications made in late April to early May generally receive sufficient precipitation for activation. However, PRE applications after mid-May often face less reliable rainfall, which can limit their effectiveness. Read on to learn how to maximize waterhemp control in corn-soybean systems.
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Tight budgets are becoming the norm due to a combination of volatile commodity prices, rising input costs, labor shortages, and weather-related impacts. Amid these pressures, the push to innovate and adopt sustainable practices has not slowed—in fact, it is getting stronger.
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Pricing standing alfalfa requires an open conversation between buyer and seller, with both parties understanding the inherent value of the forage as well as the cost and risks of harvesting.
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Managing our soils to optimize physical, chemical, and biological properties can increase soil health and function, along with improving productivity and sustainability of our cropping systems.
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A recent SARE grant helped to establish a community of practice of organic vegetable farmers focused on reduced tillage methods. A topic of interest among the group was the need for more information about effective mechanization strategies for cut-and-carry mulching. Here, we share a few stories from participating farmers.
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As with any other crop, fertilizer is an important aspect of management in small grain production. Nutrients are vital for crop development and yield outcomes, but they are also an input cost that should be optimized for profit; not yield alone.
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Across Wisconsin, first-crop alfalfa provides excellent forage quality and yield if protected from insect pests and harvested at the appropriate time. Alfalfa is a notoriously “buggy” crop, but most insects in the field are beneficial to the ecosystem.
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The soil health benefits winter cereal forages offer combined with the opportunity to harvest high quality forage has made them a mainstay on many farms across Wisconsin. When managed and harvested correctly, these forages can be utilized in the lactating dairy ration due to their high neutral detergent fiber digestibility (NDFD).
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First crop alfalfa represents the largest quantity (36% of total season yield in a four-cut system) of forage dry matter (DM) yield each year. Proper harvest management allows growers to optimize their alfalfa harvest calendar for the remainder of the growing season.
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Before dairy, wheat was king in Wisconsin. Between 1840 and 1880, the state was largest wheat producer in United States, providing a full sixth of the nation’s supply. Today, wheat is 5% of total grain crop (corn, soy, wheat) acres in the state. While there are benefits to having wheat in the rotation and a healthy local market for straw, a higher potential for dockages due to quality standards than corn or soy can be a deterrent for farmers.
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Podcasts from the Crops and Soils Program |
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Will Fulwider, Regional Crops Educator, hosts Field Notes, where specialist guests, farmers, and industry reps collaborate with them to combine their skills, knowledge, and experience to help farmers and agronomists develop research-based solutions to issues facing agriculture in Wisconsin. Subscribe where you listen to podcasts or check out the episodes here!
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Join the UW-Madison Division of Extension as they search for new crops for Wisconsin growers, processors, and consumers on The Cutting Edge. The strength of Wisconsin’s agricultural economy is its diversity…something that doesn’t just happen by chance. It is a product of the relentless drive of researchers and farmers to innovate, explore, and experiment. Join us for a glimpse into the exciting new research and development bringing new crops and diversity to Wisconsin. Subscribe where you listen to podcasts or check out the episodes here!
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Second and fourth Thursdays from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. beginning April 10
The Badger Crop Connect series provides agronomists, crop consultants, and farmers with timely crop updates for Wisconsin. Webinars take place all season long, from April through October. CCA CEUs are available by topic for each presentation.
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May 15 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Marshfield Ag Research Station
This field day is designed for farmers, conservation staff, agronomists, crop advisors, and more to see demonstrations of termination of cereal rye cover crop using a roller crimper and planting into rolled cover crops, learn how to set up a planter to establish row crops into cover cropping systems, learn how cover crops affect the management of nutrients, and learn how farmers from across the state participating in the Wisconsin Cover Crop Data Network incorporate cover crops into their cropping systems.
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May 21 from 1 p.m. – 4 p.m.
Hancock Agriculture Research Station
$10
Join Dr. Amanda Gevens and Dr. Russ Groves to learn how to find, identify, and manage common pests and diseases of potato and other vegetable crops.
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Beginning May 14
Online via Zoom
Join us for weekly virtual lunch-and-learn webinars that introduce the fundamentals of field crop scouting and apply what you have learned with a half-day hands-on training in the field at one of the three University of Wisconsin Ag Research stations. Hands-on field day registration to be announced. Register for the free webinars here.
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In-person: June 3 (Stevens Point), June 17 (Appleton), June 19 (Fennimore), July 1 (Janesville), July 15 (Eau Claire)
from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Online: July 17 (LCD webinar) and July 22 (Agronomist webinar)
from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.
SnapPlus V3 is now available for nutrient management planning! Join us for a one-day training on V3 of SnapPlus. We will discuss building a plan from scratch in V3 as well as demonstrate converting a V2 plan into V3. There will also be time to work on plans, and we’ll have SnapPlus developers present to answer questions and troubleshoot.
Three nutrient management CEUs will be available. Registration is free. Please register at least one week in advance of the training you plan to attend so that we can plan for a lunch count.
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August 27, 2025
Arlington Ag Research Station
A day of rotating field talks from faculty experts and researchers in crop management, pest management, forage, and soils.
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Hear from us and our partners more often! |
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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.
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Fruit producers, sign up to receive tailored updates from the UW–Madison Fruit Program. Sign up and read more here.
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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.
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UW–Madison Division of Extension Crops and Soils Program
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Partially supported by National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Crop Protection and Pest Management-Extension Implementation Program award number 2024-70006-43559.
An EEO/AA employer, University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title VI, Title IX, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act requirements. Please make requests for reasonable accommodations to ensure equal access to educational programs as early as possible preceding the scheduled program, service, or activity. For communicative accommodations in languages other than English, please contact oaic@extension.wisc.edu. For communicative accommodations based on a disability, please contact Heather Lipinski Stelljes at: heather.stelljes@wisc.edu for the public.
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