With some rainfall late last week and cooler temperatures, some crops are doing better than others in Greene County.

Landus Cooperative Technical Agronomist Dan Bjorklund says corn continues to hold strong, despite drought conditions across the county. However, he points out there are patches of yellow to almost brown showing up in soybean fields, which he believes is because of the “field stressload,” including drought and a pest that hasn’t been prevalent in 40 years, the soybean cyst nematode.

“What’s happened is that one source of resistance, that’s been used for 40 years, is starting to break down. Now there are other sources that can be used, but soybean cyst nematode is a big deal in beans this year.”   

Bjorklund adds another factor for the “field stressload” is some herbicides that were used last year on corn that didn’t break down and then rotated into soybeans this year that carried over.  He is hopeful that if more precipitation comes soon and throughout July, some of those soybean fields will correct themselves.