Scout, Take Notes, Learn, Make Adjustments and Decisions For 2026

As we draw closer to corn and soybean harvest, make a habit of taking a note pad (electronic versions work, just be careful to not get wet) to your fields and/or plots to take notes of what you see. A few things to be mindful of when walking fields prior to harvest:

• Weed Escapes: Did your weed control plan live up to your expectations or do you have weeds that it missed? If so, do you recognize and know what weed it is? Or was it a timing issue when it was sprayed or worked, plugged nozzle or improper mixing? If you do not recognize or know what the weed is, contact your Dairyland District Sales Manager or Agronomist to help. We have seen an increase of Palmer Amaranth spreading into new areas, and we want to make sure we stop it where we can. Do you need more herbicide resistant traits like Dairyland Seed Enlist E3® soybeans that allow you more flexibility in timing when you want to safely spray your crop as well as the products you can safely use?

• Disease pressure in corn: Are you seeing heavier disease pressure this year versus previous years? Are you seeing new or different diseases starting to appear? We have seen new areas with tar spot and Physoderma Brown Spot and Stalk Rot, as well as Goss’s Wilt. In soybeans look for Sudden Death Syndrome (SDS), Sclerotinia White Mold (SWM) and Frogeye Leaf Spot (FLS). Have you seen them before or are they in a new area? Do you need a different Dairyland Seed variety to help with these diseases or additional seed treatments or fungicide applications to help with control measures? 

• Fertility: Are you seeing nutrient deficiencies in your crop? Did your nutrient management plan work or, do you need to make changes? Do you need to split apply your Nitrogen and Sulfur in your corn? Are your soybean leaves showing a yellow tint on the outside leaf margins which is showing Potassium (K) deficiency? Much like corn and alfalfa, soybeans do need fertility. Are you applying enough fertility to supply your soybean crops needs?

• Insects: Are you seeing late season corn rootworm beetles? Are they Northern, Western or Southern as this could have a bearing on what trait you use for next year’s crop. Are you seeing more areas with Soybean Cyst Nematodes (SCN)? Should we soil test those areas to find out SCN levels? Higher levels may warrant a different seed treatment or rotation. 

• Standability or Lodging: Did we have wind or weather events that will push up harvest on a field(s)? Which fields need to be harvested first and why? 

In the last few years, utilizing a digital tool such as Granular Insights from Corteva has been a great place to store data from these late fall as well as growing season visits. Granular Insights allows you to place notes where threats are in the field which allows you to store that data for making seed and agronomic decisions later.

When you are walking Dairyland Seed plots, are you seeing products with better disease or insect tolerance? Do these products have better ear development or pod set? Do you like what you see? Take notes of what you like and don’t like about the products you plant, as well as the new products you see in the plot, as these notes can help your Dairyland Seed dealer as well as District Sales Manager and Agronomist fit the products you are looking for.

When the combine or choppers start to roll, take your notes with you and write down or type in what didn’t work or what you would like to change as well as the successes you see. Did that new tile you put in help with water management? Did that additional nutrient application bring in more yield and or a better-quality crop? Taking good notes allows you to look back to decisions you made as well as forward to find what works and what needs to change. 

Dairyland Seed’s Agronomy Team is more than willing to help you come up with solutions to make you more successful.