In today’s CropCast, Seth Naeve welcomes, Dr. Kelsey Andersen Onofre, an Assistant Professor and Wheat and Forage Extension Specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at Kansas State University. Kelsey is joining us through a collaboration with the US Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative, a national multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research consortium whose goal is to develop effective control measures that minimize the threat of Fusarium Head Blight (scab) for producers, processors a...
Nov 01, 2023•36 min•Ep. 19
In this episode, CropCast hosts Dave Nicolai and Seth Naeve visits with Dr. Fabian Fernandez, Professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Soil, Water and Climate. Fabian is a state Extension Specialist in Soil Nutrient Management with an emphasis in soil nitrogen. Fabian provides an overview of his background, education, and career. Fabian was born and raised in the Pampas region of Argentina. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University, and M.S. and B.S. degrees from Brigham Yo...
Oct 26, 2023•38 min•Ep. 18
In this week’s MN CropCast, Seth Naeve and David Nicolai welcomed University of Minnesota Extension Specialists; Dr. Jeff Coulter and Dr. Dean Malvick. Coulter is an Extension Corn Specialist and Malvick is an Extension Plant Pathologist specialist for corn and soybeans. These state specialists discussed the selection criteria for growers to consider when choosing their 2024 corn and soybean seeds. While crop yield data from multiple sites in 2024 is extremely important, yield stability over tim...
Oct 18, 2023•32 min•Ep. 17
In this week’s CropCast, Seth Naeve and David Nicolai welcomed veteran agronomists, Dr. Tom Peters and Zach Fore. Dr. Tom Peters is a sugarbeet agronomist specializing in weed control at North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota, Zach works for Pioneer/Corteva in Northwestern Minnesota as a regional agronomist and researcher. These two gentlemen reviewed the crop growing season and early harvest results for sugarbeets, corn and soybeans in western Minnesota. They discussed ea...
Oct 11, 2023•37 min•Ep. 16
In today’s CropCast, Seth Naeve and David Nicolai welcome veteran regional agronomists, Jay Zielske and Jared Goplen. Jay works for Corteva in south central Minnesota, while Jared works for Wyffels Hybrids covering western Minnesota, northwest Iowa, and a few counties in South Dakota. These two gentlemen shared their observations on harvest progress and reported yields in their areas. One cannot discuss variable yields in 2023 without a focus on what brought us here. Planting delays, poor stands...
Oct 03, 2023•41 min•Ep. 15
Dr. Craig Sheaffer has been on the faculty in the Department of Agronomy and Plant Genetics since 1977, where he has been teaching and conducting research. Dr. Sheaffer’s teaching experience has consisted of an expansive list of agronomy, forage, food and environment focused courses taught at the University of Minnesota. In this episode, Craig sits down with David Nicolai and Seth Naeve to talk about his teaching career at the University of Minnesota and his many collaborators, colleagues, and f...
Sep 26, 2023•43 min•Ep. 14
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...
Sep 14, 2023•40 min•Ep. 13
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 (Far...
Sep 06, 2023•38 min•Ep. 12
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 ...
Aug 09, 2023•43 min•Ep. 11
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 res...
Aug 04, 2023•34 min•Ep. 10
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 c...
Jul 25, 2023•41 min•Ep. 9
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 o...
Jul 18, 2023•36 min•Ep. 8
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 approa...
Jul 11, 2023•33 min•Ep. 7
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 nitrat...
Jun 27, 2023•28 min•Ep. 6
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 soybe...
Jun 20, 2023•33 min•Ep. 5
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 var...
Jun 13, 2023•38 min•Ep. 4
This week’s University of Minnesota Extension "Minnesota CropCast” has as its guest Tom Hoverstad, Researcher at the Southern Research and Outreach Center, Waseca, MN. Tom provided an update about this season’s weather and its effect so far on the growth of the area’s corn and soybean crops. In addition, Tom reviewed his major crop and weed research protocols at Waseca, herbicide options and what the future may hold in terms of new herbicide technologies. Finally, Tom provided an in-depth analys...
Jun 07, 2023•26 min•Ep. 3
This week’s University of Minnesota Extension “Minnesota CropCast” has as its first guest: Dr. Tom Peters, Extension Sugar beet Weed Specialist for the University of Minnesota and North Dakota State University. Tom provided an update on sugar beet planting progress and challenges this spring for both the Red River Valley and southern Minnesota sugar beet planting areas. In addition, Tom reviewed the major weed problems, herbicide options and what the future may hold in terms of new herbicide tec...
Jun 01, 2023•38 min•Ep. 2
Dave Nicholai gives an update on planting progress with Seth Naeve and discusses weed management tactics early in the season with Dr. Debalin Sarangi. Weeds such as waterhemp are already emerging with the warming temperatures. They focus on herbicide options for weed management, especially how to time pre-emerge and post-emergence options along with possible tank-mix strategies.
May 22, 2023•29 min•Ep. 1
