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Aerial photo of a field revealing crop productivity within a specified management zone.

Creating Management Zones Using Electrical Conductivity

The first step to practicing zone management is to identify the variations that control yield. There are various methods for characterizing soil variations within a field, and among them, electrical conductivity measurement is one of the most-reliable.

Three holiday cacti. From left: Easter cactus, Thanksgiving cactus, Christmas cactus.

A Cactus for Every Holiday: Caring for This Popular Indoor Plant

Many people may not realize that there are three distinct species of holiday cacti: Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. This article explains the different types of holiday cacti and how to care for them.

Variety of colorful poinsettia plants on display at a retail store.

Poinsettias: Selecting and Caring for the Most-Popular Holiday Plant

With the holiday season already underway, garden centers, floral shops and popular retail chains are full of poinsettias. Learn some tips for selecting and caring for them in this article.

Several amaryllis bulbs with roots and green shoots beginning to emerge.

Caring for Amaryllis From Bulb to Bloom

Amaryllis are beautiful, flowering bulbs that are easy to grow and can brighten up your home during the dark days of winter. This article offers some tips for purchasing and caring for them.

Field pea cover crop blend growing in a field of corn residue.

Midwest Cover Crops Council Releases Third Edition Cover Crops Field Guide

November 29, 2021

Cover crops are used to slow erosion, improve soil health and capture nutrients. From planting to termination, growers face many production decisions, however.

Tanks of anhydrous ammonia being pulled to a field for fertilizer application.

Determining an Economically Optimal Nitrogen Rate for Corn in 2022

While we can't know what the prices of corn and nitrogen fertilizer will be next year, it is very important to understand how the level of both prices will influence corn profitability for 2022.

Female producer holding a soil core sampling probe in a harvested soybean field.

Fall Soil Sampling

With fertilizer prices on the rise, it’s more important than ever to understand your soil test levels and crop response to applied fertilizers. Fall is a great time to soil sample before freeze up.

Oat plants exhibiting crown rust symptoms.

Does Crown Rust in Oats Cause Problems for Livestock?

When wet, cool conditions predominate in the spring, crop producers may have to deal with crown rust in oats. When this crop disease is abundant, questions from livestock producers arise. Could crown rust in oats harm livestock if it’s present on pasture or in hay?

A green cut alfalfa field dries as the sun sets.

Forage Resources Available to S.D. Farmers and Ranchers

Forages are a very important part of the South Dakota livestock and cropping industries. Often, producers have difficulties finding enough forage for their herd or locating a fellow producer to buy, sell or rent forages and grazing acres too. South Dakota now has two widely-recognized, free resources to aid in these connections.

Several wrapped bales of hay lined up near a barn.

Round Bale Storage Conservation

Fact sheet discussing conservation of round bale storage.