Content by Laura Edwards

A snowy farmyard with sunlight breaking through the clouds.

2018 Annual Climate Summary

In 2018, South Dakota saw the typical weather extremes of all kinds. New Year’s Day 2018 started out with record cold temperatures and wind chills; the year ended with a blizzard on December 31, with a lot of extremes in between.

A John Deere Max Emerge XP corn planter behind a Case IH Magnum 335 with AFS precision farming system.

Why Precision Agriculture?

When precision agriculture comes into a conversation a few questions arise. Three of those questions might be: What is precision agriculture? How does precision agriculture make our farm more profitable? What do I do with all this data?

A soybean field with a large brown area due to a lightning strike.

Seeing Dead Soybean Plants in a Circular Pattern? Could Be Due to Lightning

While quite uncommon for lightning to damage row crops, it does happen. Thunderstorms can have lightning that can burn soybeans plants leading to their death.

A field of soybeans with leaves flipping upward.

Drought Stress Symptoms in Soybean

Soybeans in South Dakota are in their moisture-critical reproductive stage. Drought stress during this growth stage can significantly impact yield, so here are some things to look for.

Overwintering S.D. Bean Leaf Beetles: 2017 predicted mortality

The overwintering generation of bean leaf beetle adults emerge in the spring and can cause serious defoliation injury to seedling soybean plants. However, the abundance of overwintering bean leaf beetles is negatively affected when the air temperatures get too cold. Therefore, an estimate of the emerging populations can be made based on how cold the winter was.

A field of emerging winter wheat in early spring.

Winter Wheat Breaking Dormancy Early

A threshold indicator for winter wheat emergence is to consider average temperatures over a 14-day period. When that 14-day average temperature is equal to or above 5°C, or 41°F, then hard red winter wheat can break dormancy.

A small herd of cattle grazing in a snow storm.

Spring Storm Fronts Impact Calving Patterns

While the changes in calving patterns in association with weather fronts is nothing new to producers, it is beneficial to keep this in mind as calving season shifts into high gear. Cold fronts are the type of weather systems that will create the pressure and temperature changes associated with increased birth rates.