January 2025

Fungicides can be an essential part of an integrated pest management plan, but they do not always provide a positive return on investment for soybean producers, according to University of Missouri strip trial research.Missouri farmers apply fungicides to about 65% of soybean acres, says MU Extension state plant pathologist Mandy Bish, yet only 10% of fields are scouted to determine need before fungicides are applied. In 2004, before soybean rust entered the United States, fungicides were applied to only 1% of Missouri soybean fields.MU Extension strip trials on soybean fields across the state have shown that many fungicide applications result in yield increases, but those increases do not always offset the cost of a $40 per acre application.In 66 strip trials, only 21% showed yield increases greater than or equal to 3.3 bushels per acre following an R3 fungicide application, said Bish.

When we think of endangered species, if we think of them at all, we typically think of our nations' greatest success story the bald eagle, or perhaps we think of the Manatee of which the legend of mermaids was born.Maybe for you it is the Florida panther that stirs in you a deep sadness at its possible demise. For me it is a creature until last summer I had not even heard of much less seen, and this lovely creature calls our beautiful state of Missouri home.