Background on Notice to Trade:

On March 6, 2023, USDA-AMS published a report titled “More and Better Choices for Farmers: Promoting Fair Competition and Innovation in Seeds and Other Agricultural Inputs.” This report was a response to Executive Order 14036, which directs federal agencies to take action to promote competition across the American economy. It outlines strategies for ensuring that the intellectual property system, while incentivizing innovation, does not unfairly restrict competition.

During the process of collecting public comments, holding listening sessions, and conducting meetings with farmers, plant breeders, industry experts, and seed companies, concerns were raised regarding the lack of important information available to seed purchasers through advertisements and catalogs.

The report found that withholding crucial details, such as variety names, before delivery can constrain competition and hinder innovation in several ways:

• Marketing a plant variety under different brand names without disclosing the variety name makes it difficult for consumers to determine which IP rights pertain to a variety.
• Withholding variety names from advertising can lead to price discrimination and prevent brands selling the same variety from competing based on other factors like price, seed quality, and customer service.
• Lack of varietal information in advertising also complicates farmers’ strategies to manage on-farm diversity and mitigate risk by planting multiple varieties of the same crop.

As a response to these concerns, USDA published a notice to trade, which underscored that farmers and other businesses should know the kind and variety of the seed that they are purchasing. AMS expects purchasers to be informed of kind and variety at the earliest opportunity, usually at the time of purchase and no later than the commencement of shipment. Sellers may achieve this by allowing the grower to physically review the seed container and its label prior to shipment, by making the labeled claims easily accessible to the grower (e.g., a link to an image of the actual label), or through other appropriate means. The notice to trade aims to ensure that growers have the necessary information to make reasoned and well-informed purchasing decisions. This, in turn, fosters transparency and promotes fairer competition in agricultural input markets.

For additional information, feedback and questions, please visit the Seed Liaison Website www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/seed-liaison or contact the USDA Seed Liaison Initiative at seedliaison@usda.gov. For information on how to file a complaint under the Federal Seed Act, please visit the Federal Seed Act website at www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/fsa/complaints or email seedcomplaints@usda.gov.

Main points for farmers:

• You should have access to the variety name of the seed you are purchasing when the seed is shipped, and usually at the point when you make purchasing decisions.
• This is so you can make decisions about what to plant on your farm, with all the relevant information needed to choose the best seed and supplier for your situation.

Authored by: Sam Bibby, Regional Crops & Soils Educator- UW Madison Extension; Dr. Rodrigo Werle, Associate Professor and Extension Cropping Systems Weed Scientist- UW Madison; and Dr. Shawn P. Conley, Professor and Soybean & Small Grains Extension Funded Campus-Based Faculty- UW Madison

There are a lot of weedy soybean fields across Wisconsin this year and the dry conditions are the major culprit. A lack of precipitation reduced the effectiveness of many residual herbicides and drought- affected soybeans were slower to close the canopy. To make matters worse, the dry conditions seem to be accelerating soybean dry down while weeds remain green. In Wisconsin, we usually get a killing frost around early to mid-October. Fields with heavy weed pressure may not be physically harvestable until then. This leaves us with the very real possibility of harvesting too-dry soybeans from fields under heavy weed pressure.

Harvest loss from pod shatter increases significantly when soybeans get below 11% moisture or when they undergo several drying-rewetting cycles. As a rule of thumb, when measuring harvest loss, four seeds per square foot equate to a bushel per acre of yield loss. Shrink loss, caused by soybeans sold below 13% moisture is another large concern and often goes unnoticed. As an example, harvesting and selling soybeans at 9% moisture and $12 per bushel with an average yield of 40 bushels per acre will result in a loss of $21 per acre compared with the same harvest at 13% moisture. In 2023, a desiccant application may prove to be cost effective for growers with weed infested fields that are still expected to yield. Here are some points to consider:

• Sharpen (suflufenacil) is currently the main herbicide that is labeled for, and somewhat effectively desiccates, hard-to-control, potentially herbicide-resistant weeds like waterhemp, giant ragweed, marestail and common lambsquarters in soybeans.
• Glyphosate is an option for growers dealing with heavy grass weed pressure or may be tank mixed with Sharpen for burndown of some broadleaf weeds.
• Spray Sharpen at physiological maturity, stage R7, indicated by one mature-colored pod anywhere on the main stem.
• Sharpen may be applied at a rate of 1.5-2 fl oz per acre or 1-2 fl oz per acre when tank mixed with another desiccant. A minimum carrier volume of 10 gallons per acre for ground rigs and 5 gallons per acre for aerial application is recommended for desiccation. Higher carrier volume rates will increase burndown efficacy. MSO at 1% v/v and AMS at 8.5lbs/100 gal are recommended adjuvants.
• Maintain a pre-harvest interval of 3 days when using Sharpen or 7 days if glyphosate is used alone or in tank mix.
• Soybean fields sprayed with Sharpen for a harvest aid should not be harvested for seed or any form of feed/forage.
• Winter wheat for grain and other cereal grain cover crops, such as winter rye, may be planted following harvest of soybean fields sprayed with Sharpen. However broadleaf cover crops should be avoided following an application of Sharpen.
• Small grain forage and hay must not be fed or grazed sooner than 30 days after application.

Spot spraying weedy patches may also be a cost-effective method of ensuring the whole field may be harvested at once. Using a harvest aid such as Sharpen in Wisconsin may only be economical if it is likely harvest will be delayed significantly by weeds so it is important to get out and scout fields now to make that decision as soon as possible.

Sources:

https://www.cdms.net/ldat/ld99E014.pdf

https://cropwatch.unl.edu/2020/harvest-aid-herbicide-options-soybean

https://agriculture.basf.us/content/dam/cxm/agriculture/crop-protection/products/documents/BASF_TechBulletin_Sharpen_Soybean_Desiccation_August2015_medres.pdf

https://www.pioneer.com/us/agronomy/Timing-Soybean-Desiccation-As-A-Harvest-Aid.html

Application Timing of Harvest Aid Herbicides Affects Soybean Harvest and Yield. Joseph M. Boudreaux and James L. Griffin*https://www.mssoy.org/uploads/files/griffin-weed-tech-reprint.pdf

https://mrcc.purdue.edu/VIP

Authors: Shawn P. Conley and Dr. James Specht (UNL)….well mostly Dr. Specht, but I did have to double-check his Nowledge… tee hee!

It’s been a week since the article A Flash Drought, Cover Crops and Dry Dirt… Which Soybean Seeds Are Still Viable? was published. At this point we have likely figured out which soybean seeds have either germinated and emerged, are dry and viable upon the next rainfall event, or are dead. Given the continued drought conditions lets work through a few real world scenarios and questions that have popped up over the past week regarding soybean and drought.

Scenario #1. My soybean crop is at the early Vn stages, but it is dryer than a popcorn fart out there. What yield impact is this drought going to have on my soybean crop? Luckily very little! As long as that tap root continues to dig deep and find some water, early soybean vegetative node development, after stage V1, is not really impacted by early season lack of rainfall.  For early season MG’s (~1-3) after soybeans hit the V1 growth stage a new main stem node is produced about every 3.7 days within the range of normal temperatures where these MG cultivars are adapted.  Lack of rainfall will, however, diminish leaflet size (i.e., leaf area) for those nodal trifoliolate leaflets that happen to be expanding during the drought period.  Still, drought during vegetative development is seldom a factor in final yield determination.  Remember that unlike corn, soybean, the superior crop, will only accumulate <15% of its total biomass by R1 or first flower so very little water is utilized/demanded for vegetative growth (Figure 1.).

Figure 1. Soybean biomass accumulation throughout the season.

More problematic is lack of rainfall during August – (post – R3) which we (and others) have found to be the most critical period for drought to have an impact on soybean seed yield. Remember early soybean planting sets us up for maximizing yield, but rainfall during seed-fill realizes that yield!

Scenario #2. You are making a pass across your soybean field and you are tempted to toss in a fungicide to help with plant health and drought mitigation. Don’t fall victim to the plant health fungicide pitch. Even in Ohio they know that Drought Projections Do Not Go Well With Fungicide Applications.

Scenario #3. The soybean seeds you planted are sitting in dry soil and are still viable because they have not imbibed water. Or they may have imbibed water, then dried out and died. If the seeds are not viable (dead), I would check herbicide labels and replant new seed into dry soil, no deeper than ~2.0 inches deep. Remember dry in the dirt is the same as dry in the bag. One method of getting the seeds into moisture if you have row cleaners is to set them to move a couple inches of soil away from the tops of the furrow as you plant and place the seed into 1-2 inches of soil moisture if possible. I have no issues planting them 3 to 3.5 inches “deep” if you will. Check with your seed dealer, but most soybean varieties today can emerge from ~3 inches deep under current soil temperatures.

Scenario #4.  The soil is dry below the soybean seed placement layer and you get a rainfall event that wets the soil down to the seed placement layer but is not sufficient to connect to the deeper wetter soil zone. In this scenario the soybean seed will germinate, but the radicle will not penetrate into a dry soil layer below the seed placement zone.  This scenario happened to a NE farmer a few years ago in a dry spring when he killed his cover crop with glyphosate just before they planted soybean into the dry soil on the same day. They then got what they thought was a nice 0.80″ rainfall event that evening.  Trouble was that water amount was not sufficient to wet below the 1.75″ deep seed placement zone (there was still a dry layer below) and though the seed germinated, the seedlings withered and died because the radicle was not penetrating the dry soil layer. This field needed to be replanted. Such a scenario may be infrequent, but 2023 is certainly shaping up to be a year this could be widespread.  In this case, a pivot was used to mitigate the subsequent dry soil layer, but irrigation is not common to most soybean farmers.

Scenario #5. We don’t talk about scenario #5.

Literature cited:

Gaspar, A., C. Laboski, S. Naeve, and S.P. Conley. 2017. Dry Matter and Nitrogen Uptake, Partitioning, and Removal across a Wide Range of Soybean Seed Yield Levels. Crop Sci. doi: 10.2135/cropsci2016.05.0322

Juan Ignacio Rattalino Edreira, S. Mourtzinis, S.P. Conley, A.C. Roth; I.A. Ciampitti, M. A. Licht, H. Kandel, P.M. Kyveryga, L.E. Lindsey,  D.S. Mueller, S.L. Naeve, E. Nafziger, J.E. Specht, J. Stanley; M.J. Staton, P. Grassini. 2017. Assessing causes of yield gaps in agricultural areas with diversity in climate and soils. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology. dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.07.010

Mourtzinis, S., J. Specht, S.P. Conley. 2019. Defining Optimal Soybean Sowing Dates across the US. Scientific Reports. 9:2800 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-38971-3

Well folks its the end of May and frost was in the air. I figured we would be getting some questions about the impact of the predicted cold temperatures on the wheat and soybean crop. Here is my coolbean take!

First lets start with the wheat crop which in WI ranges from jointing to flag leaf emergence. Cold temperature would need to reach 30 degrees F or less for 2 plus hours before injury occurred. I just don’t see that happening in any major wheat growing region in WI last night.

Table 1. Wheat Resistance to Freeze Injury (From: Spring Freeze Injury to Kansas Wheat)

Now let’s talk about soybean. I am also optimistic that if the forecast temperatures hold, the soybean crop will in fact be #COOLBEANS, but also unaffected. My optimism lies in the Nowledge I received in an email from Dr. Jim Specht from UNL a few years ago (modified slightly by me for context). For the most-part, farmers and their soybeans in WI fall within the context of this email.

First of all  temps above 32F will not impact above-ground tissue.  Second, tissue freezing does not even take place at 32F because cell cytoplasm has solutes in it – like a modest anti-freeze, which depresses freezing point of the tissue a degree or two less than 32F – thus air temps surrounding the tissue have to get to below 31 or 30F before tissue freezing can occur.  Third, the soil surface is typically warmer than the air temperature (particularly when the soil is wet) and does not give up heat acquired during a sunny day as fast as the air does after sunset.  In actuality, the interface between soil surface temp and the air temp near that soil surface will be closer to the soil temp than to the air temp which most peopled measure on thermometers viewable at their height (not at ground level).  Biophysically, control of the soil temp over the air temp this is called the “boundary layer effect”).  So don’t trust air temperatures read on thermometers unless you know what the air temperature near the soil surface was (put a thermometer on the soil surface where the cotyledons are and check it just before dawn (when the soil surface temp reaches its nadir for a 24-hour temperature cycle).  Fourth, the cotyledons are a huge mass of tissue that are about 95% water.  That big amount of water-filled tissue is hard to freeze unless the exposure to temps of 30F at the soil-air interface is many, many hours.  Cotyledons will freeze faster (in fewer hours) but only if the soil surface temps get well below 30F (say 25F).  The only concern I would have is when cotyledons are no longer closed and protecting the young stem tip.  However, if that is in fact frozen off, the nodes to which the cotyledons are attached will regenerate TWO main stem tips.  Not an ideal way to start the growing season, but better than having to replant (0.5 bu/ac loss per each day that soybeans are NOT in the ground on May 1). Text courtesy of Dr. Jim Specht (UNL)!

Division 4:

1^st           Don and Doug Midthun, Arlington (96.57 bu/a with Asgrow AG20X9)

2^nd          Ron Digman, Mount Hope (96.33 bu/a with Pioneer P28A42X)

Division 3:

1^st           Kelley Farms, Arlington (88.33 bu/a with Asgrow AG24XF1)

2^nd          Jim Salentine, Luxemburg (74.58 bu/a with Stine 19EC32)

• *UW Bean Team (Mark Kendall, Andrew Malcomson, Haleigh Ortmeier-Clarke), Madison (84.08 bu/a with Pioneer P20A22X). The UW Bean Team is ineligible for official prizes as they are graduate students of Dr. Conley; however, their efforts are still unofficially recognized.

Division 2:

-No entries were submitted for Division 2-

Division 1: 

1^st           Josey W. Wilson, St. Croix Falls (72.44 bu/a with Pioneer P16A84X)

2^nd          Jim Wilson, St. Croix Falls (63.89 bu/a with Asgrow AG11X8)

New Contestant Award

• Daniel Ballmer, Janesville (90.01 bu/a with Dyna-Gro S28XF92)

The contest is sponsored by the WI Soybean Program and organized to encourage the development of new and innovative management practices and to show the importance of using sound cultural practices in WI soybean production.

For more information please contact Shawn Conley, WI State Soybean Specialist at 608-800-7056 or spconley@wisc.edu