We are beginning to think about next season already. The final draft of the SDS Commercial Variety Testing Report has been posted. Yield data and statistical analysis are now included. The map of the compiled data can be found within the North Central Soybean Reseach Project portion of the web page. A soybean disease called Green Stem has been causing big problems in the central portion of the state.
Plant stems remain green while the pods and seed have reached harvest maturity.
This makes the plants difficult to combine. Large areas of the field are affected. The causal agent is still undetermined at this time. However, SIU and U of I researchers are working on it. There are many instances where individual plants will remain green, have thick and ridged stems, have few or no pods, those pods having large, single seeds.