Minnesota CropCast

Dr. Craig Sheaffer has been on the faculty in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics since 1977.  Dr. Sheaffer’s research has focused on forage production and has led to the authorship of around 275 scientific publications and scores of book chapters and extension publications.  He has worked on pasture management and has focused on many species of forage crops.  But his love is alfalfa.  Craig sat down with David Nicoali and Seth Naeve to talk about his history at the University of Minnesota and his many collaborators, colleagues, and friends at The U.  Craig discussed changes that he has seen in agriculture in Minnesota and talked about alfalfa varieties and the testing program over the years.

This is part one of a two-part series that touches on some of the highlights of Dr. Sheaffer’s illustrious career.  Part 1 emphasizes his research efforts while Part 2 will highlight his teaching career at the University of Minnesota.

In this episode, CropCast hosts Dave Nicolai and Seth Naeve visited with Mark Bernard, independent crop consultant and Tom Hoverstad, Researcher at the Southern Research and Outreach Center about the current condition of the Minnesota corn and soybean crop as we enter the month of September. Tom provided a review of the 2023 weather effects upon this year’s corn and soybean crops in the Waseca and southern Minnesota, while Mark reviewed the findings of the recent August Pro Farmer Crop Tour (Farm Journal) held in the Midwest. Mark participated in the eastern segment of the tour where he participated in crop yield assessments in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota. Tom highlighted the effects of the fourth driest crop growing season since 1915 at Waseca and the yield and corn stalk quality outlook for the fall of 2023. Mark provided a re-cap of the yield estimates of both the national and Minnesota corn and soybean crops as well as how the procedures were used to make these estimates. In addition, our guests discussed the challenges of this year’s corn and soybean harvest as influenced by poor stalk quality, soybean stem diseases, dry soil conditions and weather challenges.

This week, Megan McCaghey joins hosts David Nicolai and Seth Naeve on Minnesota CropCast.  Dr. McCaghey focuses her work on soilborne fungi affecting important Minnesota crops.  She spends much of her time working on Phytophthora and Sclerotinia Stem Rot.  Her position is not tied to individual crops or diseases allowing her to use her expertise to help more producers with more disease challenges.  Dr. McCaghey also works with interdisciplinary teams to help solve some of the toughest challenges in crop diseases.  She is especially interested in utilizing altered soybean canopy structure to reduce the incidence of white mold in soybean.   Join David, Seth, and Megan for a fun(gi) discussion about crop diseases on this week’s Minnesota CropCast.

Dr. Robert Koch is best known for leading the U of MN’s soybean entomology program.  Bob has been forced to react to changes in Minnesota’s insect, weather and economic challenges confronting Minnesota soybean growers.  In this episode he talks with Dave Nicolai about his applied research and extension activities as well as his personal and academic background. Bob provided an update of his work concerning the management of soybean aphid such as control strategies when dealing with insecticide resistance. Bob and his lab personnel have conducted in-depth lab and field analysis of different insecticide resistance issues facing soybean growers in many areas of Minnesota. Bob has also provided leadership and close coordination with other Minnesota Integrated Pest Management specialists in the study and control options for new and invasive insects which can affect Minnesota soybeans such as the Gall Midge and other defoliator insects. Finally, Dr. Koch provided an update about the current 2023 soybean growing season as effected by the drought and an outlook for the rest of the growing season for insect issues.  Dr. Koch has advised many graduate students and their research activities over the last several years and serves as resource for extension educators across Minnesota.

Dr. Kevin Smith is best known for leading the University of Minnesota Barley Breeding program. Kevin has been forced to react to changes in plant diseases, economic challenges from other crops, and evolving demands of the brewing industry, but he has new varieties that will be in your beer soon. In this episode he talks with David and Seth about the opportunities to develop varieties for a changing beer industry in the US. Kevin also leads the breeding efforts for another traditional Minnesota crop, oat. Kevin talks about oat’s unique challenges and the opportunity to compete with Canadian production.  Finally, Dr. Smith is working to domesticate a crop for tomorrow, Silphium. Kevin speaks briefly of the challenges in crop domestication. - Silphium integrifolium is a native perennial plant in the sunflower family. 

Dr. Jake Jungers is one of the newest and brightest faculty in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics at the University of Minnesota.  He is passionate about taking on some of today’s toughest challenges in agriculture: improving the quality of the state’s water and soil resources.  He sees a future landscape less reliant on annual row-crops like corn and soybean, and is focused on the perennial, intermediate wheatgrass or Kernza.  Dr. Jungers talks with David and Seth about the challenges of making a new crop profitable for Minnesota farmers and how they are starting to utilize it today.   

Whether you know him as Dr. Conley, @BadgerBean, or CoolBean Conley, every discussion with Shawn is a memorable one, and today’s MN CropCast is no different.  In Episode #7, Shawn chats with Seth and David about soybean conditions in Wisconsin, and the challenges of raising soybean after cover crops and under no-till, especially in tough years like this one. He is a big idea guy, so he is not shy about sharing his vision of the future of soybean research, while discussing A.I. and Big Data approaches to solving tomorrow’s production challenges. 

Vasudha Sharma, Irrigation Specialist at the University of Minnesota was a guest for the University of Minnesota Extension CropCast podcast. Vasu discusses and highlights her funded research projects at the University of Minnesota, which aim to understand the impact of water management strategies on crop yield and nitrate leaching. Vasu’s research projects include the following:

·         Evaluating the performance of different irrigation scheduling methods and their impact on corn production and nitrate leaching in the central sands region of Minnesota.

·         Development and expansion of a web-based intelligent agricultural irrigation management tool (Irrigation Management Assistant) for Minnesota.

·         Evaluating and developing precision irrigation and nitrogen management strategies for enhancing water-nitrogen use efficiency.

·         Understanding the impact of soil health management systems on infiltration, water holding capacity and leaching potential.

Currently, Dr. Sharma is advising two Ph.D. students, one M.S. student, and one undergraduate student, in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate

This week’s special guest is also co-host, Soybean Agronomist Dr. Seth Naeve.  Seth talks about why he traveled to Indonesia last week and what makes Indonesia relevant to farmers from the upper Midwest.  Seth spends about half of his research and extension efforts on soybean quality.  He regularly travels to North and Southeast Asia to meet with soybean importers, feed millers, animal nutritionists, and other end-users. His primary message is that protein is not a good indicator by itself of soybean or soybean meal quality and does not determine the value of these feed ingredients for most purchasers whereas amino acid content and other factors need to be considered when purchasing soybeans. His goal is to increase demand for soybeans produced in the Western Corn Belt to support local soybean prices for farmers.    

The Minnesota CropCast podcast has as its guest today, Dr Arron Lorenz, Professor in Soybean Breeding and Genetics at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Lorenz, who grew up on a farm in Southwest Minnesota, provided his background, including his academic journey to his present position as a researcher in the development of soybean varieties and genetics. Dr. Lorenz provided specifics about how the University of Minnesota soybean research program provides training for graduate students, soybean varieties for Minnesota Crop Improvement, develops new soybean breeding techniques and licenses soybean genetic materials to major private soybean companies.