Registration Open for 2024 Integrated Crop Management Conference

Oct 30, 2024

By Erin Hodgson

The 35th Annual Integrated Crop Management Conference is set for Dec. 11-12 at the Meadows Events and Conference Center at Prairie Meadows in Altoona. This premier event, hosted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, will provide crop production professionals with the latest information, cutting-edge research updates and tools to prepare for 2025.

“The ICM Conference has always been a great opportunity for farmers, industry, ag retailers, agronomists and educators to network with each other and interact with their university specialists,” said Erin Hodgson, professor and extension entomologist at Iowa State University. “We are excited to offer a great program full of new information to prepare for 2025, including a strong slate of invited speakers.”

This year’s conference features 35 workshops covering crops, pests, nutrients, and soil and water management topics. Prairie Meadows offers updated facilities, an on-site hotel and short distances between sessions, ensuring a convenient and comfortable experience for attendees with time to network, visit with sponsors and view exhibits.

The conference will feature six invited speakers:

Seth Naeve, University of Minnesota, will discuss the timing, pros and cons of early soybean planting.
Anibal Cerrudo, University of Minnesota/Argentinian National Institute for Agriculture, will share recent research on the critical growth stages when soybean yield is determined.
Kelsey Fisher, Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, will talk more on a re-emerging pest, the European corn borer, which is becoming resistant to Bt corn.
Horacio Lopez-Nicora, The Ohio State University, will discuss current and future challenges in managing soybean cyst nematodes.
Gretchen Paluch, Iowa Department of Ag and Land Stewardship Pesticide Bureau, will provide important updates regarding the Endangered Species Act and pesticide applications.
Jodi DeJong-Hughes, University of Minnesota Extension, will focus on compaction and mitigating compaction that reduces crop yields.

In addition to the invited speakers, Iowa State University has five new faculty and staff who will be presenting at this year’s conference:

Rabail Chandio, assistant professor and extension economist
Wesley Everman, assistant professor and extension weed specialist
Shelby Gruss, assistant professor and extension forage specialist
Richard Roth, assistant professor and nitrogen specialist
Ethan Thies, conservation field specialist

Certified Crop Advisers can receive up to 12 continuing education credits. The program is also approved for Iowa commercial pesticide applicator continuing education in categories 1A, 1B, 1C and 4 for 2024.

To register, visit the ICM Conference website. Pre-registration is required to attend. Early registration is $250 and ends at midnight, Nov. 17. After Nov. 17, the fee increases to $300, and registrations will be accepted until midnight, Nov. 27. No registrations will be accepted at the door.

Source : iastate.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.