CHURDAN, Iowa (AP) — In the 1970s when George Naylor said he wanted to grow organic crops, the idea didn’t go over well. Back then organic crops were an oddity, destined for health food stores or maybe a few farmers markets. “I told my dad I wanted to be an organic farmer and he goes, […]

WESTFIELD, Ind. — A wet spring for some areas of the Corn Belt delayed tillage, planting and herbicide applications, setting the stage for heavy black cutworm pressure. Brian Weihmeir, an LG Seeds agronomist in south-central Illinois, started fielding calls about the tell-tale snipped plants around Memorial Day. “It was something we were keeping an eye […]

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. — Virginia crop production boomed in 2021, though few commodities fared better than the state’s record-breaking soybean harvest. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service annual crop production report, Virginia soybean growers harvested an estimated 27.1 million bushels in 2021, up 15% from 2020. Harvested acreage also increased by 30,000 […]

BLACKSBURG, Va. — To showcase Virginia Cooperative Extension’s rich history of advancing the well-being of all Virginians since 1914, an interactive timeline was created to help visualize the many contributions of the 1862 and 1890 land-grant institutions. Funded by an Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Sciences diversity grant, the timeline serves as an inclusive tool that community members […]