Manager'S Corner

In last fall’s Manager’s Corner I focused on renewal – whether the rebirth of plant life in colder climates or the testing of cover crop seed serving as a prelude to the busier winter testing season at the ISU Seed Lab.&

To me spring is the season of renewal – snow is done (except for those occasional “fun” Iowa spring storms), the landscape is no longer pretty much barren and there is no longer the count down for winter to be done with.

Ever heard the song “We’re from Iowa … Iowa”?  It ends with “That’s where the tall corn grows”.  Then there is an alternative Iowa song and it starts out with “Corn, corn, corn, corn … look a tree!”.

I typically say that autumn is my favorite time of the year.

I will cover six topics in this Manager’s Corner: Update on testing during the pandemic, expectations for quality of incoming seed from agronomic species, testing industrial hemp & cover crop seed, Seed Science’s

I will cover three topics in this Manager Corner:  COVID-19 & seed testing, testing cover crop seed and industrial hemp.

As we move into our fall and winter testing season I would like to touch on a couple of items:

Dealing last summer with rye seeds that had issues with fungal infection by Fusarium spp.

Seed producers and farmers in southern Iowa struggling through dry conditions this summer probably never dreamed they would be dealing with weeks of rain this fall.  I

May is normally a transition month at the Iowa State Seed Laboratory —when the volume of samples for corn and soybean testing tapers off, and the focus sh

It’s funny how misconceptions can have so much impact on our decision-making process.  Fo

A great deal has occurred since writing my last Manager’s Corner column in February.

Currently, using cover crops and putting land into conservation reserve (specifically through the new Pollinator Program) is very popular.

Uniformity is of great significance to individuals involved in the marketing of seeds.