Week of May 12, 2025 Local, professional reports straight from the field,
from all regions serviced by Ag Partners.

Meet this week’s featured agronomists:

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WEST

Belle Plaine – Le Center – Le Sueur – Morristown – Traverse

What a Week It’s Been!

Out here on the west side, things have been moving fast—floaters, sprayers, and planters have all been running like crazy now that the fields have finally dried out from the last round of rain. I’ve been talking with quite a few growers and everyone seems to agree, we haven’t seen this many acres go in the ground in such a short time in a long while.

West of the Minnesota River, most folks are either finishing up or completely wrapped up with planting. Over in the Morristown area, it looks like there’s still a few more days left to go. Hats off to our growers and a big thank you to the Ag Partners operations team—this week has really shown what we can accomplish when we’re all firing on all cylinders.

As for soil conditions, we’re starting to see the top couple inches dry out from the heat, but there’s still decent moisture about 3 inches down, so we’re not in bad shape just yet. With all the growing degree units (GDUs) we’ve accumulated, the soil’s heating up like an oven. Corn and soybeans that went in around May 3rd to May 5th are already starting to emerge, and from what I’m seeing, emergence is looking really strong.

Now, we just need a good rain to keep things moving in the right direction. We’ve also had a few calls come in about pre-emerge herbicides—specifically whether or not it’s still worth applying them. My advice? Stick to the plan. It doesn’t take much rain to activate them and they’re well worth the investment. The one year you skip it will be the year we get that timely rain and weeds come on strong. Starting the season with solid weed control sets the tone for the rest of the year. Let’s keep it rolling!   – Matt

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EAST

Goodhue – Kenyon – Lake City – Pine Island – Wanamingo

Hello from the East! As fertilizer season is wrapping up, we have jumped into spraying season. With the warm weather the past few days we have seen both corn and soybeans popping up out of the ground quickly. Moisture is in the forecast, therefore make sure to get ahold of your local Ag Partners Agronomist and notify them when and what you have planted.  It is key to get your soybean pre emerge applied timely, before they have emerged.  A strong weed control programs helps to achieve an earlier canopy with better plant stands. Best of luck with any remaining fieldwork and we greatly appreciate everyone’s patience during this busy time of year!  – Ethan

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SOUTH

Elgin – Lewiston – Stewartville

This past week we’ve seen some major progress made with planting. Some of the early corn and soybean plantings are experiencing challenges from crusting to achieve full emergence. Several corn fields have been rotary hoed to help the crop emerge, while there have also been some fields that were replanted as well. In crusted fields planted to soybeans, there has also been some breaking off of the mesocotyls as the soybeans are trying to emerge. In the last week, the later planting of corn and soybeans seem to be fairing quite well. Most of these have been planted into soil with good moisture and supported by above-average temperatures. I just looked at a corn field that was planted on May 5th; not only has the corn emerged but can also be rowed just 7 days after planting. That’s pretty remarkable.  Although planting is still going on, we need to very quickly start looking at the next task on the horizon – weed control. I’ve noticed several fields starting to “green up” rather quickly. The weeds are very aggressive competitors of our crops and are taking advantage of the warm weather as well, so we need to get our post herbicide plans finalized and be ready to spray when the timing is right. Typically, we see some of our heaviest weed pressure along fencelines, waterways, etc. but they will surely start showing up throughout the fields soon. Below is a picture I took of Giant Ragweed moving in from a fenceline in a corn field:  

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WISCONSIN

Ellsworth

Wow! This has been a very fast paced spring.  Here in the New Richmond, Wisconsin area planting has wrapped up for several operations and the equipment used to put the crop in the field is sitting outside the shop waiting to be parked for the year.  We went from worrying it was too wet to now wishing it would rain.  Along with the fast pace of getting the crop in, we have also seen some of the earliest dates of emergence on both the early planted corn and soybeans.  This is also going to bring some challenges over the next few weeks that we aren’t used to.

While you are out taking population counts it is also a great time to look at your weed control. Whether you have a planned pre-emergence plan or a post emergence, be prepared to change programs among your fields.  This could be the spring where a one size fits all program may not work.  As I have been out in fields, both conventionally tilled and no-tilled, fields look reasonably clean out in the center. However, I am seeing some fields where the borders are a mess. Lambsquarters, Giant Ragweed, and Marestail are some of the more difficult to control weeds and they are in some instances 4-6 inches in height.  In years like this, we may be making the post application a little earlier than anticipated.  Fortunately, most of the post herbicide programs we are using have residual chemistry that allows us to make applications on the early side.  Have a continued safe season. – Al

Pictured below are examples of weed pressure seen on field edges.

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