The Role of Phosphorus in Agricultural Development in Kentucky: A Story of the Haves and the Have-Nots

By Dennis Egli
Published on Apr. 18, 2025

By John Ragland, Dennis B. Eglis, Katsutoshi Mizuta, Stephen Greb, and Jeffery E. Levy

After a Big Rain: N Loss, Erosion, and Other Things

By John Grove, Chris Teutsch, Edwin Ritchey, Brad Lee, and Glynn Beck
Published on Apr. 11, 2025

As we write this article, it is still raining – towards an unknown but large amount of rainfall (Fig.1).

Flooding and Freezing Effects on Wheat and Corn

By Chad Lee
Published on Apr. 11, 2025

Articles in this newsletter address the rainfall totals received since the first of April and the expected nitrogen losses from those conditions. There are other concerns about how the wheat crop will recover from the excessive rains. The following are some expectations and assumptions. Be cautious with these.

A Soggy and Cool Start to Spring Planting 2025

By Matt Dixon
Published on Apr. 11, 2025

Between relentless rainfall and subfreezing temperatures, the start of this growing season has been anything but ideal. According to data from the Ag Weather Center, Kentucky averaged 7.56 inches of rain last week.

Early Planted Soybean Does Benefit from Good Soil Fertility

By John Grove
Published on Mar. 30, 2025

I’ve been reading in both popular and scientific press that for soybean fields with low fertility, early planting substitutes for addition of needed soil-based nutrition (Allen, 2025, Loman et al., 2024).

Corn Nitrogen Rate Recommendations: AGR-1 Updates

By John Grove and Edwin Ritchey
Published on Mar. 30, 2025

Corn fertilizer nitrogen (N) rate recommendations had not been deeply reexamined in 20 years. Additionally, there have been no substantial change to AGR-1 (Ritchey and McGrath, 2020) corn N management recommendations since the 2004-2005 version of the document. Information on the use of urease inhibitors was added at that time.

Corn Yield Contest Analysis: What Has Driven Yield in Last 6 Years?

By Mohammad Shamim and Chad Lee
Published on Mar. 30, 2025

The Kentucky Corn Yield Contest is organized jointly by the University of Kentucky and the Kentucky Corn Growers Association. The yield contest can provide valuable insights into the highest-yielding corn fields across the state.

2025 Corn, Soybean, Wheat Fungicide Efficacy Guides Now Available

By Kiersten Wise and Carl Bradley
Published on Mar. 30, 2025

The 2025 fungicide efficacy tables for foliar diseases of corn and soybean, and for soybean seedling diseases have been updated, and are now available through the Crop Protection Network website: https://cropprotectionnetwork.org/.

Grain Crop Phosphate and Potash Rate Recommendations: AGR-1 Updates

By John Grove and Edwin Ritchey
Published on Mar. 30, 2025

Grain crop fertilizer phosphate (P2O5) and potash (K2O) maintenance rate recommendations in AGR-1 (Ritchey and McGrath, 2020) have not been reexamined since their inception - 1992. Other UK extension faculty (G. Schwab, pers. comm.; B. Lee, pers.

Biological N Fixation Products for Corn: An Update

By John Grove and Chad Lee
Published on Mar. 24, 2025

Replacing, economically, some or all of corn’s fertilizer nitrogen (N) need with biological N fixation (BNF) is becoming a major goal in commercial corn production. With BNF, microbes fix atmospheric N as ammoniacal N and provide additional N nutrition to the crop.