Alfalfa Scissor-Cut Harvest Alert May 18, 2023

May 19, 2023

By Tyler Rice

UMN Extension Educator for Stearns, Benton, and Morrison Counties

With warmer temperatures and adequate precipitation, the alfalfa crop in Central Minnesota is growing rapidly. This also means that the Alfalfa Harvest Alert Project is well underway. The goal of this project is to alert alfalfa growers to start first crop harvest when the crop is at a level of quality that matches animal nutrition goals while maximizing yield potential.

The alfalfa scissor-cut alert program is not a prescription for any particular harvest date but can be a go-to decision tool for those alfalfa producers that are busy managing other crops in the rotation during one of the busiest seasons on the farm. Extension educators, farmer-cooperators and cooperating agribusinesses work together to begin collecting alfalfa scissor-cut samples mid-may until harvest.

Attached below is the scissor cut progress report beginning the week of May 14th:

Individual farm results - May 14-17

You can also find up to date information on the project at this link:

z.umn.edu/AlfalfaHarvestAlert

Source : umn.edu

Video: Adapting to ESA: Bulletins Live! Two

In part 2 of CropLife America’s “Adapting to ESA” instructional video series, learn how to determine location-specific restrictions using Bulletins Live! Two (BLT). Dr. Stanley Culpepper, a leading weed science specialist with the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension, provides a walkthrough of the tool.

Follow along with BLT, linked here: https://www.epa.gov/endangered-specie...

The video series is part of a new set of educational tools released by CropLife America (CLA), in partnership with the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA) and the Council of Producers and Distributors of Agrotechnology (CPDA), to help farmers, agricultural retailers, and pesticide applicators better understand the Endangered Species Act (ESA).