A Special Corn-Following-Corn Extension Effort
Richard Pope, P&S, Plant Pathology
Problem Statement:
Iowa corn acreage was projected to increase significantly over previous years, driven by higher expected corn prices resulting from the development of corn-based ethanol generation facilities to produce fuel grade ethanol. Much of the planned increase in corn acreage was for acres that would normally be planted to soybean, which means that many farmers with either little or distant experience with corn planted following corn. Chief among these questions were production issues involving fertilizer nitrogen sources, rates and application timing; foliar disease incidence, and insect and weed concerns.
Programmatic Response:
During the winter of 20062007, Iowa State University crop production specialists decided to focus special efforts on the corn-following-corn topic. These included the following:
- Publication of a special issue of the Integrated Crop Management Newsletter. This 40-page issue contained 22 articled dedicated to topics involving the management of corn planted following corn.
- Hardcopies of this issue was distributed to individual Corn and Soybean Initiative retail partners for direct use with their producer clients.
- Print-quality, portable document format copies of this special issue were bundled with a second special issue that centered on soybean disease management were bundled into a compact disc and delivered to the (then) 46 retail partners with the ISU Corn and Soybean Initiative, with retail outlets in 89 of 99 Iowa Counties.
- Several presentations at the annual Integrated Crop Management Conference were directed toward management concerns with corn following corn.
Impact/Outcome:
The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported 14.3 million acres of corn planted in Iowa in 2007, which is an increase of 13% over 2006 corn acreage, nearly tying the record 1981 plantings of 14.4 million. Because a generation has passed since 1981, the ISU resources provided understanding of issues surrounding profitable production of corn following corn. In an informal survey of 5 Corn and Soybean Initiative partners with multiple retail outlets all expressed gratitude for the information. The partners used the information in newsletters to clients and educational materials, and also directly handed the printed copies to appropriate growers. The trend in increased corn acreage is likely to continue for the near future, and extension educational efforts will continue with newly produced information as it is developed.
2007
100 Corn and Soybean Production
Page last updated:
September 28, 2007
Page maintained by Linda Schultz, lschultz@iastate.edu
