Each growing season, produc­ers face multiple challenges when trying to plant their crops. Too much or not enough rain. Changes in chemical trade names and new premixes. New equipment, software and “smart” technologies to consid­er. On a positive note, commodity prices for grain and cereal crops have been on the rise, a relieving tune when compared to prices over the last seven years. I hope this is a good year for our growers’ pocket­books.

Weeds, on the other hand, care little about market trends and capitalize on our missed opportuni­ties and periods when stress levels are high. The pigweeds—Palmer amaranth and waterhemp, namely— have made headlines and likely are the focal point of many conversa­tions among growers and retailers in recent years. A keyword search for Palmer amaranth and water­hemp on the North Central Weed Science Society website revealed 30% of its published poster and paper abstracts in 2020 included one or both of these weeds, which means significant research contin­ues on both species. I don’t really see that trend changing anytime soon. Note that the members of the North Central Weed Science Society not only include Missouri but also Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dako­ta, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the Canadian Prov­ince of Ontario, and those search results indicate that these weeds are significant pests in many areas outside the Show-Me State.

Populations of waterhemp have become resistant to herbicides that contain the active ingredients glyphosate and lactofen. Some of the first reported cases date back to around 2008. More recent surveys (2015-2017) conducted by Dr. Kevin Bradley’s team at the University of Missouri in Columbia show the majority of waterhemp collected from Missouri fields were resistant to chlorimuron and glyphosate, and one field had plants not controlled with 2,4-D, atrazine, chlorimuron, fomesafen, glyphosate or mesotrione.

Palmer amaranth doesn’t seem to be as widespread as waterhemp in Missouri but certainly has a foothold farther south. For most of 2020—and at least the first half of 2021—the world has focused on mitigating the spread of COVID-19 and its lethal variants, but at the border of our southeast trade territory another issue has arisen: reports of Palmer amaranth control failure with glufosinate in two northeast counties in Arkansas. As a weed scientist by training, this saddened me to read. My intent is not to scare or signify the fight is hopeless but to inform readers of what is going on in our backyards. We are in a battle to isolate these populations as much as possible to prevent pollen and seed spread and to protect the technologies that we have left.

Knowing what we know about these species, we still have options. Protecting corn and soybeans from weed competition four to six weeks after emergence is necessary to minimize yield loss. Soil residu­al herbicides applied at planting followed by in-season overlapping residuals, including a Group 15 herbicide (such as Anthem, Cinch, Dual II Magnum, Outlook, War­rant and Zidua), have shown to be effective in managing these species before they emerge from the soil. Add an effective post-emergence herbicide (tailored to the soybean trait platform) for those weeds not controlled pre-emergence.

For various reasons, many Mis­souri farmers have planted cover crops. Fortunately, high biomass cover crops such as cereal rye make it difficult for small-seeded weeds to establish and penetrate through the residue layer. Sufficient closure of the seed furrow is critical to maximize soil-to-seed contact and achieve uniform crop emergence. Some challenges exist with cover crops, no doubt, and may not be suited for areas where soils poorly drain. Terminating the cover crop when it’s larger may prevent soil residual herbicides from contacting the soil. Soil-applied herbicides must be in the soil solution to be taken up by germinating seeds. However, planting conditions may deteriorate when cereal rye is termi­nated early because the once living cover crop is no longer extracting moisture from the soil.

Going forward, I’m optimistic that technology and adapting our production practices to exploit weaknesses in the plant’s biology will aid in managing these prob­lematic weed species. Visit with the agronomists at your MFA affiliate or feel free to contact me if you want more info on weed-control options for this year’s crop.

Helping growers economically manage pests has been my passion for the past decade—from my un­dergraduate studies to my graduate research to my most recent work with the USDA-ARS Sugarcane Re­search Unit in southeast Louisiana. There, I focused on integrated weed management strategies to control annual and perennial grasses that are especially problematic for sugar­cane growers.

While Missouri has its fair share of specialty crops, sugarcane isn’t one of them. But weed control is a common struggle for producers, no matter what they’re growing. It is extremely rewarding coming back to the same fields with much lower weed densities years later after having a discussion on results from what research has shown.

I’m not only passionate about agricultural research and its results, but I’m also a strong believer that being stewards of our natural re­sources and passing down knowl­edge are essential for the success of future agriculturalists and rural communities. I’m bringing that philosophy to my new role as MFA Incorporated’s director of agronomy. You’ll hear from me regularly here in Today’s Farmer as well as other MFA print and online resources.

Though I’ve spent the past four years in Louisiana, I’m no strang­er to Missouri agriculture. I was raised near Washington, Mo., which has long been known as the corn cob pipe capital of the world. During the summers as a youngster, I would help my uncle put up hay and bushhog pastures. I also showed hogs at the Wash­ington Town and Country Fair for 11 years. My family had several rows of blackberries, raspberries and strawberries, which were sold locally. The trade-off, if you will, was us kids did a lot of the weeding throughout the spring and sum­mer—all by hand.

I went to the University of Mis­souri in Columbia and received a bachelor’s degree in crop manage­ment in 2011 and a master of sci­ence in plant, insect and microbial sciences in 2013 under the direc­tion of Dr. Kevin Bradley. In 2017, I completed my Ph.D. in botany and plant pathology at Purdue Universi­ty with Dr. Bill Johnson. Managing glyphosate-resistant giant ragweed, waterhemp and Palmer amaranth made up the bulk of my thesis and dissertation research.

I’m joining MFA at a busy time for our agronomy team and grow­ers. I’ve already made field visits across the trade territory, including our two training sites in Boonville and east of Columbia where variety, fertilizer, seeding rate and seed treatment trials will be conducted. My first several months will require significant time investment in get­ting up to speed with the team and products MFA offers to growers.

In many ways, I compare this orientation period to what it takes to prepare for the annual student weed science contest I participat­ed in as a graduate student. To be successful, it required everyone on the team to be accountable, come prepared, communicate and work together effectively. This was espe­cially critical for the team sprayer calibration competition, in which you were not only evaluated on ac­curacy but also efficiency. My team did especially well in the event, reflecting our ability to foresee and anticipate what we needed to do next. In some instances, sprayer tips were intentionally damaged, which required team members to spend more time finding a func­tional tip of the appropriate size and spray angle. Team members would never sit and wait—they would automatically see what we needed to do next to shave off seconds from our time. This is what made us successful.

This philosophy has not changed much at all to where we are today. I’m looking forward to helping bridge MFA’s sales, agronomy and precision folks into a more cohesive and interactive group. At the end of the day, we all have something to learn from one another. I also want to encourage an open mind­set. A healthy debate in a respectful manner is good and helps move us forward as a team.

I’m eager to put my education, background and experience to work for MFA personnel, growers and customers across our geography. With spring planting season well under way, this is the time for our agronomy team to shine. I’m glad to be part of it.

Even if you don’t live near a natu­ral wetland, practically anyone with access to a farm or ranch can turn fields into outstanding waterfowl habitat. Flooding crop fields in the fall and winter to attract ducks, geese and other wildlife is a popular land management tool for hunters and wildlife enthusiasts.

It’s not just about mallards cupped over decoys. There are countless other species that count on quality wetlands for their life cycles and migrations. Ducks and geese are attracted to grain and weed seeds, while shorebirds, wading birds and mammals visit flooded fields in search of fish and invertebrates.

Waterfowl migrations are ex­tremely complex in both spring and fall, but there are some manage­ment actions that you can do now to ensure adequate amounts of the food these birds are seeking.

Corn is king

The age-old deer hunter question, “What should I plant in my food plot?” is rarely heard in the water­fowl world. For ducks, you want corn. First of all, corn produces a high-carbohydrate food that is quick and easy for ducks to access even in cold, frozen, challenging conditions. But to waterfowl hunt­ers, corn can be much more than just duck food. A corn crop also provides tall cover that can conceal hunters from weary waterfowl.

Corn planted in rows near open water can also trigger a duck’s inherent quest for a “hemi-marsh,” consisting of about 50% open water and 50% standing vegetation. Pud­dle ducks such as mallards are most attracted to this type of flooded habitat. It’s indicative of wetlands that have drawn down to allow for plant germination and then reflood­ed. It’s where ducks can find ample food to fuel migration.

When planting corn in a wetland area, here are other considerations:

1. Make food plot plantings where you can flood the crop with at least 12-18 inches of water.

2. Select varieties with fewer days to maturity. Planting dates in low, wet areas are typically later.

3. Select varieties that are shorter in stature with a lower ear height. The lower the ears, the less wa­ter depth needed for waterfowl to reach the grain.

4. Use a traited variety to simpli­fy over-the-top weed control and prevent insect damage that could cause lodging.

5. Make a planned nitrogen topdress application. Wet soils in low areas are not good candidates for preplant-only N management. Ponded water and warmer soil from later planting may lead to significant N losses.

6. Plant corn near areas that can easily be mowed to create open water or contain a harvestable crop of soybeans that can be removed to create open water.

7. Ensure the remaining crop stays standing and unmanipulated to comply with federal migratory bird regulations.

Flooding in fall

As temperatures start to cool in the fall, “When should I flood?” becomes the important question. From a waterfowl-hunting scenario, the answer likely depends on your hunting zone, nearby habitat and when you plan to hunt the most. Typically for most of Missouri, peak waterfowl numbers occur sometime in November. However, the seasons run past these peak times. In any case, flooding gradually and trying to provide the most food through­out the season is important if you’re focused on overall bird usage. Many times, when flooding areas of harvested and standing grain crops, the water level is increased too fast. There is a lot of quality food and foraging opportunities for the ducks in shallowly flooded harvested crops or weedy moist soil. If you have pumping capabilities, increase water levels incrementally to flood new acres and provide fresh forage slowly through the season.

Dewatering in spring

Just as flooding and water depth are important when looking to flood a food source you’ve stewarded all summer long, drawing that water off the next spring should be done with purpose to provide the best foraging conditions for the birds. Dewatering slowly in the spring allows aquatic insects to congregate at the receding shoreline, making optimal foraging conditions for waterfowl. These protein-packed insects are critical for setting the stage for the reproduction needed for good duck numbers the follow­ing year. Wetland pools do not need to be dry in the spring to have good conditions for another crop. Corn or other grain foods planted late in the year can provide large amounts of food for the next season. Draw down slowly, enjoy the wetland wildlife, and remember, “It’s all for the ducks!”

If you have any questions or need some tips and tricks for wetland management, feel free to reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Going into the 2021 growing season, producers have a better opportunity for profitability than we’ve experienced in several years. Commodity prices have been on the rise, and the weather outlook points to a great start for spring in MFA’s trade territory.

We’ve also seen fertilizer markets surge over the past several months. Nitrogen, phosphate and potash prices have all been on the upswing, subject to the forces of shorter supplies and larger demand, and that trend is expected to continue throughout the spring and summer.

This is definitely a year when growers need to focus on maximiz­ing yields—taking full advantage of higher grain prices—while protect­ing their fertilizer investment to make sure the nutrients are used most efficiently for top crop perfor­mance.

When it comes to corn, wheat and forages, nitrogen is the nutrient we need to be most concerned about protecting. Nitrogen impacts nearly every major process in the plant and is a large driver of yield. Without nitrogen, nothing happens. It doesn’t matter if you’ve got all the phosphorus and potash in the world. And the greater the yield, the greater the crop’s nitrogen needs.

Unfortunately, the potential for nitrogen loss is huge. As soon as we put a nitrogen product on a field, it’s bombarded by many different environmental factors that are trying to break it down into forms that can be lost either to the air or through the water. Under certain conditions, we can lose 30% to 40% or more of our applied nitrogen to leaching, denitrification and vola­tilization. Just do that math against the price of your fertilizer, and you can figure out pretty quickly just how important it is to protect that investment.

And you can’t mitigate the problem by simply using more nitrogen. The reality is, if you’ve got conditions causing loss, putting on more nitrogen just means you have that much more to lose. We really have to do something to stop the processes.

That’s where nitrogen stabilizers can help. To explain how stabilizers work, let me first explain how these losses occur. Through a process called nitrification, the ammonium in nitrogen fertilizers is converted to nitrite in the soil and then further oxidized to nitrate. Once in nitrate form, the nitrogen is subject to loss because it moves freely through­out the soil with moisture and can leach below the root zone. Nitrate is also susceptible to denitrification, a biological process that converts nitrate to gas that is lost to the atmosphere. This can often happen in waterlogged soils.

When using dry nitrogen, namely urea, volatilization is the issue we’re usually dealing with. This process has several steps. First, an enzyme called “urease” in the soil and organic residue convert urea to an unstable form, which can quickly change to ammonia and carbon dioxide. If you lay urea on top of the ground and do not incorporate it with tillage or a good rain, the nitrogen can volatilize right into the air. We want to stop the urease and slow that process down as much as possible until the product can be incorporated into the soil.

Depending on the weather, MFA’s own N-Guard stabilizer can protect nitrogen from volatilization for about 10 days to two weeks, which hopefully gives us time to get a good incorporating rain. N-Guard is applied to urea fertilizer when it’s blended at your MFA location.

Many locations also offer SuperU, a urea-based granule with the sta­bilizer built-in when it’s manufac­tured. SuperU has additional tech­nology that protects against losses both above and below ground, keeping the nitrogen in its ammoni­um form as long as possible.

We do a lot of things in agricul­ture because we can put a bottom line to it, and stabilizing your nitro­gen is one of those practices. MFA, our suppliers and universities have all done studies with these products and have shown there is consistent­ly a positive economic return on investing in nitrogen stabilizers. Not only does it protect the farmer’s fer­tilizer dollar, but it also makes sure the nutrition is there to boost yields.

At the same time, using nitrogen stabilizers is simply good steward­ship of the land. Anything we can do to keep these fertilizer products stable until the crops need it is not only a benefit to our grower but also a benefit to the environment.

Learn more about Nitrogen Stabilization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FATyOpduHJ8