Pioneer Agronomy: Indiana

Themes in this episode:
A "demand plan" is a strategic forecast of how much of a particular crop or livestock product a farmer should produce based on anticipated market demand, taking into account factors like seasonal fluctuations, consumer preferences, and potential market trends, allowing them to optimize production and minimize waste by only growing what is likely to be sold.
Demand planning is a supply chain management process that enables a company to project future demand and successfully customize company output—be it products or services—according to those projections. It is the linchpin of an effective supply chain, which makes it doubly important to business.
Indiana Strategic Agriculture Plan: https://www.in.gov/isda/programs-and-initiatives/indiana-agriculture-strategic-plan/
2025 Agronomy Research Summary: https://www.pioneer.com/us/agronomy-science.html

In Indiana, the entire state is marked by some kind of drought as farmers finish up this year's harvest. If rain doesn't come yet this fall, Indiana farmers are crossing fingers and toes for good snowfall. Lots of problems, but maybe not crops, can erupt when the ground is too dry.
Additionally, many farmers are in their first or second season battling the tar spot fungus. Which raises the question: when do you apply fungicide to combat this pesky new disease? The answer goes back to the weather and to moisture levels.
"Visually it's a really hard disease to scout for, but to some degree you can know it's present," says Indiana agronomist Ben Jacobs. "There is a planting date correlation this year that will match back up with the weather. You can kind of predict or get an idea of how heavy the pressure it going to be if you focus on when you planted and how much moisture you got."
If this is the first season dealing with tar spot, here's the best advice from the Indiana Agronomy podcast:
🌽 - Try not to plan on doing two fungicide applications.
🌽 - Plan to try and apply fungicide earlier, not at the silkening stage but at the blister stage when the kernels are clear or just starting to turn yellow.
🌽 - Push a couple week past when you're used to applying, but not too late.

Learn more about tar spot:
https://www.pioneer.com/us/agronomy/Tar-Spot-of-Corn.html
Pioneer tar spot tolerant hybrid seed:
https://www.pioneer.com/us/products/corn/tar-spot.html

In this episode of the Indiana Pioneer Agronomy Podcast, host Carl Joern discusses crop conditions following recent weather events and a scouting update. He offers management tips for Phytophthora root rot, sudden death syndrome (SDS) and brown stem rot (BRS). Corn fields are coming into pollination which is the most sensitive part of the plants' lifecycle.

Resources

Article: https://www.corteva.us/Resources/crop-protection/disease-mgmt/prevent-control-soybean-diseases.html

Article: https://www.pioneer.com/us/agronomy/corn_pollination_success_cropfocus.html

In this episode of the Indiana Pioneer Agronomy Podcast, hosts Carl Joern, Brian Shrader and Ben Jacob discuss recent storms and rain events across the state. Ben talks about monitoring for southern rust and other potential crop issues. The hosts discuss evaluating crops in mid-July and fungicide timing.

Resources

Article: When to Watch for Southern Rust in Corn https://www.corteva.us/Resources/crop-protection/disease-mgmt/watch-for-southern-rust-in-corn.html

The Draft includes data from 11 participants across Illinois and Indiana with more than 300 plots represented. The highest performing corn seed hybrids in 2024 were:

1472, 10811, 14830, 13777 and P1222