[Listen] Why Has Area Corn Turned Yellow? It’s Complicated

My guest on today's AM Minnesota Program was Brad Carlson U of M Extension Educator at the Mankato Regional Office. Brad works with water quality with an emphasis on nitrogen and tile drainage. Brad also has a soil science specialty. I called Brad to be on today's AM Minnesota Program because I was quite sure all the yellow corn was more than just a nitrogen or nitrogen availability issue. I thought the "sins" of the past couple of years were haunting us this year.

The last couple of years have been really wet, not just during the growing season but through the fall too. I was fairly sure compaction was a factor causing the yellow corn. The corn needs a good root system to access the nitrogen in the soil. Sure there were other factors too. Some of the applied nitrogen was likely not available yet. It was so cool this spring soil microbes had not converted the nitrogen to the nitrate form. In addition, the stage of growth of the corn likely played a role too.

In other words, there were a lot of factors in play and it is very complicated. Click on the links and listen to Brad on today's AM Minnesota Program talk about yellow corn.