Researchers highlight latest finds at field days

Jul 20, 2023

This time of year, a visit to the test plots at the University of Illinois is as much fun for farmers as a county fair is for kids.

It’s a season for field days highlighting a year’s worth of crop research at university farms.

Nick Seiter, University of Illinois entomologist and Extension specialist, offered a preview of some of the research that will be highlighted at various field days this summer.

Any Urbana-Champaign crop research tour must include an update from a team member of corn and soybean high-yield guru Fred Below, a professor well known for his “Seven Wonders of the Corn Yield World.”

“This is his 39th crop,” Connor Sible, a member of Below’s team, says of Below’s long research career.

The team routinely gets corn yields with 300 bu./acre averages.

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Video: Not only is corn getting sweatier, it's getting smarter

Over the past several weeks, much of the U.S. Midwest has experienced prolonged episodes of extreme heat, a trend also observed in other major corn-producing regions of North America such as eastern South Dakota, southern Ontario, and parts of Kansas and Missouri. These high-temperature events can place significant physiological stress on maize (Zea mays L.), which is cultivated on approximately 90 million acres across the United States, with leading production in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Like all maize, Bayer’s PRECEON™ Smart Corn System is subject to transpiration-driven water loss under high heat. However, this system incorporates agronomic traits designed to improve standability through enhanced stalk strength, thereby reducing lodging risk during stress conditions. Furthermore, the system supports precision agriculture practices by enabling more targeted fertilizer and crop protection applications. This approach not only helps to optimize input efficiency but also contributes to maintaining or increasing yield potential under variable environmental stresses such as heat waves, which are becoming more frequent in corn belt and fringe production regions.