See All Agronomic Crops

A research report highlighting the results of continuing and completed agronomic projects conducted by Penn State investigators and their collaborators in 2025.

Drone interseeding in early September into standing soybeans can help farmers fit a hairy vetch cover crop in before corn.

In Pennsylvania, nitrogen is often the most limiting resource in grass hay production, leading to reduced production quantity and quality. With improved nitrogen management, producers could increase yields by as much as 75%, while also significantly impacting production costs.

Planting green increases cereal rye biomass and can increase soybean yield compared with earlier termination or no rye. With a 1-pass program, it provided late-season weed control and yields similar to a 2-pass program without cover crops.

Performance of winter-hardy legume cover crops can improve with the use of a winter-killed oat nurse crop compared to cereal rye, including at later sowing dates. Legume performance varies widely based on weather conditions near establishment, but crimson clover and hairy vetch are the most consistent performers.

Whether you grow corn for grain or silage, learn about some management factors you can control.

Get the latest data from Penn State's variety trial program for corn, soybeans, forages and corn silage.

High quality forage should be the main component of a successful grass-fed beef operation.

Proactive nematode monitoring is essential for protecting soybean yields in Pennsylvania. Early detection and science-based management strategies can significantly reduce economic losses and ensure long-term crop sustainability.

The Open Crop Manager platform has collected over 15,000 scouting reports across 14 North Central Soybean States since 2022, providing growers with diagnostic aids and supporting research to improve soybean yield and profitability through data-driven insights.

Our study showed that delaying cover crop termination and planting crops into living cover crops (“planting green”) can increase predator populations, which then limit the abundance of insect and slug pests and reduce the need for pesticides.

In the absence of plant nutritional deficiency symptoms, foliar fertilizers did not increase yield. While the application of sugar-based products helped to alleviate crop injury symptoms caused by Cobra herbicide, it did not increase yield.

Fungicide applications at flowering reduced Fusarium head blight, reduced foliar disease severity, and increased wheat yield across Pennsylvania farms over a three-year period.

Get up-to-date strategies and detailed herbicide tables for managing weeds in corn, sorghum, soybeans, small grains, and forages across the Mid-Atlantic region.

Check out how soybean varieties performed in the 2025 variety trials in Pennsylvania.

Soil compaction is a concern to farmers. Actively growing roots can help alleviate soil compaction as was shown in a study in northern Texas.

Sign Up by March 31. CHEMSWEEP collects and disposes of unwanted or unusable pesticides.

New No-Till equipment helps Tobacco farmers reduce soil erosion.

Learn about no-till tobacco production in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

No-till and cover crops are essential for healthy soils, but also require some additional management and attention to detail.

If winter manure spreading is absolutely unavoidable, follow these requirements to do it legally.

Importing manure can be an economical source of nutrients and organic matter inputs, but there are some things to consider when doing so.

The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, has recently mandated label changes to the restricted use herbicide Paraquat, which will significantly affect those certified pesticide applicators using the product.

On-farm example focuses on organic transition.

Check out how the 2025 corn hybrids performed in Pennsylvania.