As a farmer, you work from dawn to dusk. You plan. You budget. You worry. You sweat. You hope. You pray. And yet, one stroke of a pen in Washington, DC can do as much to make or break your profitability as the thousands of hours you devote to your crop each season.
If you believe...
the future of the soybean and corn industry is critically important to the success of US farmers...
Congress has a lot to say about whether or not you make money...
grain farmers need to have strong representation on Capitol Hill...
News from NCGA
Last Call! Harvest Results Deadline Right Around the Corner (Wed, 25 Nov 2020)
Time is running out to submit harvest results for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) National Corn Yield Contest
(NCYC). Entries are due Monday, November 30, 2020 at 5 P.M.CST.
“2019 was another record-breaking year and I am excited to see what yield results we get in this year,” said NCYC Manager Linda Lambur. “The corn yield contest serves as an opportunity for corn
growers to not only learn from their peers, but compete with their colleagues to grow the most corn per acre while meeting the growing demand for food, feed, fuel and fiber.”
Harvest entries can be submitted online here. Login for the site is your membership number and postal code. The contest
email address is ncyc@ncga.com if any assistance is needed. 2020 NCYC results will be released on Monday, December 14. Winners will receive national recognition in
publications, such as the NCYC Corn Yield Guide. This is the 56th year of the Corn Yield
Contest.
>> Read more
NCGA and Checkoff Support FFAR Grant to Address Corn Tar Spot (Mon, 23 Nov 2020)
In 2018, an epidemic of corn tar spot plagued corn growers from Florida to Michigan. This plant disease, caused by the fungus Phyllachora maydis, reduced corn yields by as much as 60
bushels per acre. Compounding difficulties, the fungus cannot be grown in a lab, limiting scientists’ understanding of how to fight it. To combat its spread, the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research (FFAR) awarded a $150,000 Rapid Outcomes for Agricultural Research
(ROAR) grant to a group of plant pathologists to study and mitigate tar spot on corn.
This ROAR grant was matched by the National Corn Growers Association, Corteva Agriscience, Wyffels Hybrids, Illinois Corn Growers Association and Purdue University for a total
investment of $300,000.
“Research is critically needed for rapid development of management strategies to reduce the impact of tar spot. The National Corn Growers Association, with the support of state corn checkoff
dollars, is pleased to provide matching funding for this FFAR grant, which will help identify practices and tools to help growers reduce the potentially devastating effects of this emerging disease,”
said Robyn Allscheid, NCGA Research and Productivity Director.
Tar spot was first detected in the US in 2015 and has quickly spread through the Corn Belt. In 2020, tar spot was confirmed in Ontario, Canada and Pennsylvania. Scientists predict that tar spot
could soon reach as far west as parts of North Dakota and east to New York, further devastating yields. This disease causes significant losses for farmers’ livelihoods. Even a 1 percent reduction in
total domestic corn production could cost American farmers an estimated $231 billion in lost revenue.
Efforts to combat the disease have been hampered by the difficulty of growing Phyllachora maydis in a laboratory – an essential step for developing a remedy. In addition, little is known
about the biology of the fungus, which is required to develop effective management practices. The team of pathologists is developing tools and techniques that can help study this pathosystem in basic
and applied settings and develop tools to combat the disease. This information will provide farmers with better hybrid choices, improve understanding of management practices for suppressing tar spot
and help inform decisions about the need to apply fungicides – which can better protect crops from corn tar spot if the application is timed correctly.
“It’s especially hard to develop solutions for tar spot when the underlying fungus cannot be grown in a lab,” said FFAR Executive Director Dr. Sally Rockey. “Thus, this project will study tar spot in the field to generate the knowledge needed to help farmers make timely and
economical decisions to prevent the disease.”
The multi-state effort is focused on developing research tools and information to help growers with tar spot management. The team’s research is mapping where the fungus is present, assessing the
potential origins of the fungus and potential alternate hosts, understanding resistance in corn germplasm, assessing tar spot management options such as resistant hybrids and fungicides and
developing outreach and extension materials for corn farmers. The researchers are also building forecasting models to help producers make timely fungicide decisions using a free smartphone
application and working with corn farmers to collect information that will result in immediate real-world impacts on, and benefits for, producer decisions.
“FFAR-ROAR is a nice platform for enabling researchers to generate preliminary data on rapidly emerging pathogens and pests. In this case, the FFAR-ROAR program enabled several researchers the
ability to generate preliminary data that not only are important for producers, but also can be leveraged to support future research projects that will help combat tar spot not only in the US, but
other countries where this disease is problematic,” said primary investigator Dr. Nathan Kleczewski of the University of
Illinois.
This research is funded through FFAR’s ROAR program, which rapidly funds research and outreach in response to emerging or unanticipated threats to the nation’s food supply or agricultural systems.
The research team is made up of plant pathologists from University of Illinois, Iowa State University, Purdue University, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The original FFAR press release can be found here.
*Picture courtesy of Nathan Kleczewski, Ph.D.*
>> Read more
Time is running out to submit harvest results for the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) National Corn Yield Contest
(NCYC). Entries are due Monday, November 30, 2020 at 5 P.M.CST.
“2019 was another record-breaking year and I am excited to see what yield results we get in this year,” said NCYC Manager Linda Lambur. “The corn yield contest serves as an opportunity for corn
growers to not only learn from their peers, but compete with their colleagues to grow the most corn per acre while meeting the growing demand for food, feed, fuel and fiber.”
Harvest entries can be submitted online here. Login for the site is your membership number and postal code. The contest
email address is ncyc@ncga.com if any assistance is needed. 2020 NCYC results will be released on Monday, December 14. Winners will receive national recognition in
publications, such as the NCYC Corn Yield Guide. This is the 56th year of the Corn Yield
Contest.
>> Read more
NCGA and Checkoff Support FFAR Grant to Address Corn Tar Spot (Mon, 23 Nov 2020)
In 2018, an epidemic of corn tar spot plagued corn growers from Florida to Michigan. This plant disease, caused by the fungus Phyllachora maydis, reduced corn yields by as much as 60
bushels per acre. Compounding difficulties, the fungus cannot be grown in a lab, limiting scientists’ understanding of how to fight it. To combat its spread, the Foundation for Food & Agricultural Research (FFAR) awarded a $150,000 Rapid Outcomes for Agricultural Research
(ROAR) grant to a group of plant pathologists to study and mitigate tar spot on corn.
This ROAR grant was matched by the National Corn Growers Association, Corteva Agriscience, Wyffels Hybrids, Illinois Corn Growers Association and Purdue University for a total
investment of $300,000.
“Research is critically needed for rapid development of management strategies to reduce the impact of tar spot. The National Corn Growers Association, with the support of state corn checkoff
dollars, is pleased to provide matching funding for this FFAR grant, which will help identify practices and tools to help growers reduce the potentially devastating effects of this emerging disease,”
said Robyn Allscheid, NCGA Research and Productivity Director.
Tar spot was first detected in the US in 2015 and has quickly spread through the Corn Belt. In 2020, tar spot was confirmed in Ontario, Canada and Pennsylvania. Scientists predict that tar spot
could soon reach as far west as parts of North Dakota and east to New York, further devastating yields. This disease causes significant losses for farmers’ livelihoods. Even a 1 percent reduction in
total domestic corn production could cost American farmers an estimated $231 billion in lost revenue.
Efforts to combat the disease have been hampered by the difficulty of growing Phyllachora maydis in a laboratory – an essential step for developing a remedy. In addition, little is known
about the biology of the fungus, which is required to develop effective management practices. The team of pathologists is developing tools and techniques that can help study this pathosystem in basic
and applied settings and develop tools to combat the disease. This information will provide farmers with better hybrid choices, improve understanding of management practices for suppressing tar spot
and help inform decisions about the need to apply fungicides – which can better protect crops from corn tar spot if the application is timed correctly.
“It’s especially hard to develop solutions for tar spot when the underlying fungus cannot be grown in a lab,” said FFAR Executive Director Dr. Sally Rockey. “Thus, this project will study tar spot in the field to generate the knowledge needed to help farmers make timely and
economical decisions to prevent the disease.”
The multi-state effort is focused on developing research tools and information to help growers with tar spot management. The team’s research is mapping where the fungus is present, assessing the
potential origins of the fungus and potential alternate hosts, understanding resistance in corn germplasm, assessing tar spot management options such as resistant hybrids and fungicides and
developing outreach and extension materials for corn farmers. The researchers are also building forecasting models to help producers make timely fungicide decisions using a free smartphone
application and working with corn farmers to collect information that will result in immediate real-world impacts on, and benefits for, producer decisions.
“FFAR-ROAR is a nice platform for enabling researchers to generate preliminary data on rapidly emerging pathogens and pests. In this case, the FFAR-ROAR program enabled several researchers the
ability to generate preliminary data that not only are important for producers, but also can be leveraged to support future research projects that will help combat tar spot not only in the US, but
other countries where this disease is problematic,” said primary investigator Dr. Nathan Kleczewski of the University of
Illinois.
This research is funded through FFAR’s ROAR program, which rapidly funds research and outreach in response to emerging or unanticipated threats to the nation’s food supply or agricultural systems.
The research team is made up of plant pathologists from University of Illinois, Iowa State University, Purdue University, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The original FFAR press release can be found here.
*Picture courtesy of Nathan Kleczewski, Ph.D.*
>> Read more
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