Water & Cropping Systems

Know your crop, know your tech, know your bottom line… feeding you agronomic information for your farm in southeast Nebraska

Crop Tech Cafe has all your water & cropping systems needs from the southeast Nebraska area

Visit https://croptechcafe.org/ for your agronomic information

If you have any questions in the Gage County area please contact 

Matheus Riberio, Ph.d.

mribeiro2@unl.edu

Office: 402-821-2151

CropWatch is a central resource for University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension information on crop production and pest management. It is written by Extension Educators and Specialists and produced by IANR Media in the UNL Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Information is organized into two key areas, each of which offers thousands of crop-specific articles for Nebraska producers and crop consultants:

• The CropWatch newsletter, which includes timely articles published to the site's home page. New issues are published weekly during the heart of the crop production season and generally biweekly during the remainder of the year. Older articles are archived for later review. CropWatch also includes:
  • Calendar of ag events and programs
  • Daily news and updates via Twitter at UNL_CropWatch (also displayed on the home page)
  • Ag decision-aid tools and resources from UNL Extension
  • Content tags at the end of individual stories to help you located related articles released since April 2016. Use the Search box in the top right of every page or the Archives to locate additional articles.
• Crop-specific production and pest management sections, with additional sites for whole farm and production systems. Use the top red-bar navigation to access specific crop, management and related topics.

Authors

The research-based articles published to this site are written by Extension specialists and educators from across the state for Nebraska producers, crop consultants, and agribusiness.  To contact authors, access the CropWatch Contact resource or the UNL Peoplefinder at peoplefinder.unl.edu. To identify extension specialists and educators in your area, visit the UNL Extension Office Directory.

To learn more about the author of an individual story or to see what else they've written in CropWatch, click on the author's name.

Subscriptions

If you would like to subscribe to email notices when a new issue of CropWatch is posted to the Web, please use the CropWatch Subscription button on the home page. You can also unsubscribe from CropWatch on the same page.

Newsletter Contact

If you have questions or comments regarding the CropWatch newsletter, contact:

Katy Moore, Editor
(402) 472-7981 or
cropwatch@unl.edu

For contact information specific to each section — for example, corn, soybean, insect management — see that section.

Disclaimer

Reference to commercial products or trade names is made with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no endorsement by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension is implied.

Privacy Policy

Please read the UNL General Privacy Policy for publicly accessible websites to see how web use information may be used. We do not share or sell any subscriber information.

For additional information please go to: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/about

Range, pasture and forage information is housed on the Nebraska Extension website UNL Beef, which features content on forage crop and pasture, integrated crop-livestock systems, rangeland ecology and management, grazing and bioenergy.

Pasture and Forage Minute is a Nebraska Extension radio spot that features timely information for Nebraska's farmers and ranchers. To catch up on previous episodes, listen to the audio clips or read Pasture and Forage Minute on CropWatch.

For information on other topics, please see the full library of Nebraska Extension Publications.

For additional information please go to: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/forages

Soil Health and Cover Crops Field Day: Aug. 28, 2024, Time: 8:30 am – 2:00 pm, Location: University of Nebraska Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center

Transition to Organic Farming Workshop: Dec. 5, 2024, Location: University of Nebraska Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center

Nebraska farmers wanting to diversify their farming system and gain a higher price may include organic production of crops or livestock.

The University of Nebraska has a rapidly expanding research program focused on organic farming and Nebraska Extension has published a series of resources to aid beginning organic farmers. They include:

• University of Nebraska–Lincoln Organic Farming Research
• Planning the Transition to Organic Crop Production
• Transitioning to Organic Farming
• Developing a Farm Organic System Plan
• Certification Process for Organic Production
• Selecting Winter Wheat Cultivars for Organic Production
• Nutrient Management in Organic Farming
• Healthy Farm Index

Organic Research Survey: This survey is collecting research in regards to the motivations and limitations producers face when implementing sustainable and organic production practices.

• Organic Farming Survey Link

Roller Crimping Informational Video

• Roller Crimper 2024 Field Day Video

For more information on this and related topics see:

• Nebraska Extension Publications
• Organic resources, including Educational Resources, used in UNL Sustainable Agriculture courses.

Contributors represent many departments on campus and numerous partner organizations. Visit our research page to explore past, current, and future projects and opportunities.

Other Resources

• Organic Grain Farming Operation Workshop 2020 Recording. An Organic Grain Farming Operation Workshop was held on January 30, 2020, at the Eastern Nebraska Research & Extension Center near Mead.

For additional information please go to: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/organic

Welcome!  The latest Research & Extension information on soybean production and management practices from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.  If you cannot find the information you are seeking in the menus or articles posted below, please email your question or information request to cropwatch@unl.edu.

If you want to learn more about Nebraska Soybean Production in general, click here to view some charts of State Yield and Acreage Trends. 

SOYWATER: SOYBEAN IRRIGATION DECISION TOOL

Irrigation management made easier for Nebraska's soybean producers.  Answer a few questions about your field and a new online decision aid for irrigation management will provide you with field-specific daily updates of crop water use and soil water status.  Suggests irrigation dates based on your criteria.

SoyWater - CropWatch Article Explanation
How to Register and Use SoyWater
Optimize Your Irrigation Application Timing with SoyWater
Using SoyWater to Schedule Irrigations.

For additional information please go to: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/soybeans

The latest Extension information on wheat production and management practices from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Crop Growth and Development

Understanding plant development can be helpful for making management decisions. The optimum timing of fertilizer, irrigation, herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide applications are best determined by crop growth stage rather than calendar date.

The impact of various crop stresses such as frost, heat, drought, disease, insect damage, or weed competition can be more accurately predicted with a clear understanding of the relationships between crop growth stage and plant response to stress.

Major growth stages:

• Germination
• Seedling
• Tillering
• Stem elongation (jointing)
• Booting
• Heading
• Flowering (anthesis)
• Milk
• Dough
• Ripening

Additional Resources

• Estimating Winter Wheat Grain Yields (Nebraska Extension)
• Freeze Injury to Nebraska Wheat
• Wheat Kernel Damage (Source: Oklahoma State University)
• Plant Development--Growing Degree Days (Source: USDA)
• Tillering Patterns and Wheat Plant Stresses (Source: USDA)

For additional information please go to: https://cropwatch.unl.edu/wheat