Syngenta Thrive

by

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) may be the best-known nematode species, but it may not be the only one costing you yield. Other species like root-knot (RKN), root lesion (RLN) and reniform nematode cause yield loss across soybean-production regions. Fortunately, there are several ways you can manage these threats and protect your soybean yield.

Nematode Damage Adds Stress to Crops

Plant-parasitic nematodes like SCN and RKN need a living host to survive; and more than one species can infest a soybean field, sometimes reducing yield without causing visible symptoms.

Much like soil-borne diseases, plant-parasitic nematodes can be spread numerous ways to new fields where they infect plant roots, feed and reproduce. Their feeding limits water and nutrient uptake, reduces nodulation, and slows root development, adding even more stress to the plant. The impact of species like RLN and reniform nematode can extend beyond soybean yield and damage other crops in your rotation.

Tips to Manage Nematodes in Soybeans

Some nematode species reproduce quickly, completing multiple generations in a single growing season. While you can’t eliminate nematodes entirely, these management strategies can help keep nematode populations in check and reduce their impact on your yield:

  • Resistant soybean varieties: One of the most widely used management tools, resistant soybean varieties limit nematode reproduction. Keep in mind that not all varieties are effective against all species. Similar to disease, nematodes can adapt when the same resistance source is used repeatedly, so rotating different sources of resistance helps protect these tools’ long-term effectiveness in your fields.
  • Crop rotation: Rotating with nonhost crops is one of the most effective management strategies for reducing nematode population levels. Since hosts vary by nematode species, the effectiveness of crop rotation depends on which nematode is present in your field. For example, RLN’s wide host range means crops like corn or wheat could sustain or even increase population densities.
  • Seed treatments: By limiting nematode reproduction, Victrato® seed treatment can deliver early-season soybean protection from multiple nematode species. Powered by TYMIRIUM® technology, Victrato works to protect soybeans from nematode eggs, juveniles and adults, including SCN, RKN, RLN, reniform and lance nematodes.

No matter the species or population level in your field, employing as many of these nematode management practices as possible is recommended. A post-harvest soil test can help guide your long-term management decisions and track whether your plan is working.

How to Take a Soil Sample for Nematode Management

Soil testing is the most reliable way to monitor, identify and manage soybean nematodes. Nematode populations are typically highest at or before harvest, making this an ideal time to collect soil samples. This gives you enough time to estimate potential population levels for the next season and adjust any management decisions if needed.

The better your soil sample, the clearer your results will be. Use these steps to get the most accurate count:

  1. Use a probe to collect soil cores in the root zone that are 6 to 8 inches deep.
  2. Collect 15 to 20 samples in a zigzag or “W” pattern for every 20 acres.
  3. Sample fields separately based on wet or dry areas, soil type, or cropping history.
  4. Mix the cores well in a bucket, put the mixed soil into a sample bag, and send it to your local nematode testing lab. Be sure to request a comprehensive nematode evaluation, as there may be more than one species.

While yearly sampling isn’t necessary, testing fields every two to three soybean crops can help you track nematode population numbers and confirm whether your management strategies are working. Take note of the longer-term trend over the last three to five samples.

National Nematode Day

Nematodes may be difficult to spot, but their impact on yield can be significant. To raise awareness of these hidden yield threats, our partners at The SCN Coalition named the first Monday of October as National Nematode Day, encouraging growers to soil test, identify and take a proactive approach to soybean nematode management.

by

Thrips and pepper weevils are unwanted guests on any farm, but they pose a special threat to peppers and tomatoes. These insects can directly reduce marketable yield potential through feeding damage and can vector diseases.

Adult thrips are 1.5 mm in length and are pale to light brown in color. According to University of Florida Extension, thrips cause damage to pepper and tomato plants by feeding, which impacts plant growth, deforms flowers and scars fruit, ultimately impacting marketable yield potential. Thrips migrate from host to host throughout the year with the potential for multiple generations per season.

Western flower thrips, often found in pepper fields, are the most efficient vector of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). Larvae can be found in flowers and on fruits, and adults prefer to hide in the spaces between the fruit stems and leaves.

Pepper weevils are pear-shaped beetles that are about 3 mm in length with dark scales and long snouts. Adult females bore into fruit buds and lay eggs. Larvae are grayish c-shaped grubs that enter pepper pods to feed after hatching. Virginia Cooperative Extension states that adult pepper weevils damage foliage and blossom buds; larvae feed only on the fruit buds and pods. Internal damage caused by larvae feeding can cause deformed fruit or premature dropping.

A combination of cultural practices and powerful insecticides can help prevent and control thrips and pepper weevils. Keeping fields and greenhouses free of weeds, fallen leaf litter and debris removes an alternate host for thrips. If you experienced infestations in previous seasons, deep plowing in early spring can destroy ingested weeds and plant material from last season. In greenhouses, placing fine mesh screens over fans and other vents can help prevent infestations. Destroying dropped and deformed fruit can help kill developing pepper weevil larvae or pupae.

Incipio™ insecticide is a powerful tool that can help free the farm from thrips and pepper weevils. Incipio is powered by PLINAZOLIN® technology and offers long-lasting, broad-spectrum control so you can stress less about insect pests during the season.

A bar chart shows improved control of Western flower thrips in tomatoes with Incipio insecticide compared to an untreated check and alternative products.
In a trial testing the average number of adult Western flower thrips on tomato, tomatoes treated with Incipio had less adults per 5 plants than untreated tomatoes. Trial: USWQ0I1022021. 6, 13 and 20 days after last application. CA, 2021.

By controlling thrips, pepper weevils and other insect pests, Incipio helps manage the spread of TWSV. With no known cross-resistance, its novel mode of action in IRAC Group 30 helps growers manage resistance. This is especially important for growers dealing with thrips because thrips populations developed resistance to several available insecticides.

A bar chart shows reduced pepper weevil damage in pepper crops with Incipio insecticide compared to an untreated check and alternative products.
In a trial testing the efficacy of insecticides against pepper weevil, plants treated with Incipio had fewer fruit infested with pepper weevil than untreated plants and alternative products. Trial: USVN013092020. FL, 2020.

To learn more about controlling vegetable pests and the advantages of Incipio insecticide, reach out to your local Syngenta representative.

by

Every input deserves scrutiny in today’s farm economy.

From seed and fertilizer to fuel and crop protection, growers are evaluating every line item to protect margins. According to Jeremy Sharp, corn herbicide product lead at Syngenta, that’s exactly what they should be doing.

“Growers should know what’s going into each acre,” Sharp says. “But when evaluating herbicides, the question isn’t about which product costs less but rather what will this decision ultimately cost me by the end of the season?”

It’s easy to compare purchase prices, but many of the costs associated with crop protection don’t appear on an invoice. “Purchase price is one part of the equation, but it’s not the whole equation,” Sharp says.

The Cheapest Option Isn’t Always the Lowest-Cost Option

Many herbicide decisions begin with two comparisons: active ingredients (A.I.) and cost per acre.

Those are important considerations, but they don’t tell the entire story, according to Jeremy Fowler, Ph.D., group leader of formulation development at Syngenta.

“Depending on the formulation, you can have dozens of ingredients beyond the active ingredients and those pieces create a very complex formulation package that’s designed to not only give you outstanding efficacy in the final product itself, but stability over a wide range of conditions,” Fowler says.

Those additional formulation components may include emulsifiers, stabilizers, pH buffering systems, antifoam agents and other ingredients designed to help products remain stable, compatible and effective under real-world conditions.

''

When evaluating herbicides, the question isn’t about which product costs less, but rather what will this decision ultimately cost me by the end of the season?

Jeremy Sharp Corn Herbicide Product Lead at Syngenta

Sharp sees the same issue from a grower’s perspective.

“The active ingredient is part of the calculation, but it isn’t the only calculation,” he says. Understanding that difference becomes important when products reach the tank and the field.

Hidden Cost #1: Tank-Mix Problems

Today’s herbicide programs often require multiple products, adjuvants and tank-mix partners. When ingredients are not designed to work together, problems can develop quickly. Fowler notes that compatibility is one of the key challenges formulation scientists work to solve long before a product reaches the marketplace.

“The big difference, and where generic herbicides may have different levels of time and resources invested, is to make sure that all ingredients are compatible in the formulated product,” Fowler says. “Growers can’t afford surprises.”

Sharp has seen those surprises with some generic herbicides firsthand. “I’ve seen way too many tanks turn to pancake batter on us,” he says.

Products that settle, crystallize, separate or become too thick to pump can create immediate challenges. In some situations, the mixture can be recovered. Even when a mixture appears usable again, another concern remains. “Am I getting too much A.I. in one place and not enough somewhere else? And then suddenly I’ve got skips or crop response in the field?” Sharp says.

Hidden Cost #2: Equipment Downtime

A problem in the tank often becomes a problem in the sprayer.

Settled material can clog screens, jets and pumps. Crystallization can create cleanup challenges. Equipment may sit idle while operators troubleshoot compatibility issues during critical application windows.

Sharp has spent years helping diagnose those situations and understands the impact on operations. “That is downtime. And that is very, very bad news for the person that’s got to deal with that,” he says. “I’ve had to help clean many tanks where DIY mixes went south. That’s not a good day.”

The hidden cost is not simply the cleanup. It’s the lost opportunity to spray while conditions are favorable. When application windows are measured in days rather than weeks, even minor delays can have consequences.

Hidden Cost #3: Weed Escapes and Rescue Applications

Tank-mix issues don’t always reveal themselves immediately.

Sometimes the evidence appears weeks later as weed escapes or inconsistent control across the field. Sharp explains that uneven distribution of active ingredients can create areas where weeds receive less than intended rates. “It’ll look just like skips,” he says. In those situations, growers often face an additional expense in the form of a rescue application.

“If you run into a scenario where you have less weed control and it’s not working the way you would expect, you’ll need to go back in with a potentially costly rescue application,” Sharp says.

That cost can include:

  • Additional chemistry
  • Fuel
  • Labor
  • Equipment wear
  • Another trip across the field
  • Continued weed competition for this season and next

What initially looked like a lower-cost choice can quickly become far more expensive.

Hidden Cost #4: Going It Alone

One of the easiest costs to overlook is support.

When a product doesn’t perform as expected, growers need answers quickly.

According to Fowler, that support network is one of the major differences between branded products and many generic alternatives.

“Our customer support center has access to global expertise and responds directly to suppliers, distributors and growers. We aim to ensure that their experience is the best they can get,” he says.

Sharp agrees.

“That’s why 1-866-SYNGENTA exists, so you can have dedicated U.S.-based support beyond the sale of the product,” he says. Whether the question involves performance, compatibility or application issues, growers have access to technical and agronomic resources after the product leaves the retailer.

What You’re Really Buying

When growers purchase a branded herbicide, they’re buying more than the active ingredients listed on the label. According to Fowler, formulation development requires significant time and scientific investment.

“Beyond the time spent to discover and determine if a new herbicide molecule can come to market, we spend at least two years testing a wide range of scenarios for compatibility and performance,” he says. “The longer timeline for development allows us to spend more time doing more experiments, refining stability criteria and checking a wide range of different conditions over an extended period of time.”

The goal is simple: Help products perform consistently and predictably under a wide range of conditions. “Any additional ingredients in our products are not simply fillers,” Fowler says. “They are carefully selected formulation components intended to improve stability, reliability and performance.”

Sharp believes that investment ultimately benefits growers. “When you stick to a formulated, branded product from Syngenta, we’ve worked through all of that for you,” he says.

Four Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Herbicide

Before selecting a herbicide primarily on purchase price, consider asking:

1. What is included beyond the active ingredients?

Formulation technology, stability systems, compatibility work and application testing may influence performance.

2. What additional products or management will this program require?

Consider surfactants, conditioners, compatibility agents and any other inputs needed to keep products working together.

3. What happens if performance falls short?

Think about the costs of downtime, weed escapes and rescue treatments.

4. Who stands behind the product?

Evaluate the agronomic, technical and customer support resources available after purchase.

Ask the Real Cost

In a tight-margin environment, scrutinizing every input makes sense. The next time two herbicides appear similar on paper, look beyond the active ingredients and the price per acre.

by

There are plenty of variables you can manage throughout the growing season, but the weather isn’t one of them.

Whether it’s extreme heat, hail, derechos or drought, severe weather can threaten soybean yield at nearly every growth stage. While no one can prevent extreme conditions, the management decisions you make before and after a weather event can play a major role in minimizing losses and protecting yield potential.

When Weather Takes a Toll

Soybeans are resilient, but every type of severe weather can take a bite out of yield. How much yield is affected depends on the type of stress and when it occurs.

University of Wisconsin-Madison experts say this is one of the state’s warmest growing seasons, and the same goes for much of the Midwest. Extreme heat and drought can delay canopy closure, trigger flower and pod abortion, and reduce seed fill. At the other end of the forecast, excess rain, flooding or derechos can increase disease pressure, delay soybean development, and contribute to soil compaction.

Growth stage matters too. Some soybean fields can recover from early-season stress, especially if favorable growing conditions return. However, stress occurring during the reproductive stages could potentially have larger yield consequences. When multiple weather challenges stack up, your bottom line can take an even bigger hit.

The Unseen Impacts

Immediate damage like broken soybean stems after a severe weather event may be easy to spot at first, but some of the biggest yield threats develop days or even weeks later.

Prolonged wet weather can leave fields with saturated soil, creating optimal conditions for disease, including Phytophthora root and stem rot and white mold. Flooding can lead to root suffocation and soil compaction, limiting the plant’s growth even after fields dry.

Assess Before You Act

When the weather turns, every management decision matters. While it’s important to evaluate fields carefully, it’s just as important to give your crop the chance to recover on its own before taking major action.

Especially for severe weather like hail, University of Nebraska-Lincoln experts say to wait seven to 10 days before making significant changes. Giving the crop a waiting period after a storm provides the chance for the soybeans to recover before acting on decisions. The last thing you want to do is overcorrect and add unnecessary inputs without improving your end-of-season outcome.

Protect Yield Potential

Once the weather clears, your focus should shift to protecting remaining soybean yield potential. Replanting may not be a practical option for your operation, so removing any additional stressors is key to helping your crop finish the season as strong as possible.

Continue scouting throughout the season in case signs of disease, insect activity and weed pressure pop up. Track university and extension updates for any pest pressure alerts or response recommendations. Identifying these issues early can help prevent a weather-related setback from becoming a larger problem later in the season.

Looking ahead, consider whether your current seed selection aligns with the weather challenges your operation faces most often, as some soybean varieties handle specific stressors better than others. Work with a trusted agronomist or your local Syngenta sales representative to fine-tune any management strategies for this season and beyond.

Bottom line: Weather may be unpredictable, but informed management decisions can help you protect soybean yield potential and position fields for success, no matter what the forecast brings.

by

The warm, wet weather that gets corn off to a good start can also give way to disease pressure and root stress. In 2025, these conditions in the Corn Belt combined with nutrient-rich soil also led to another threat: rapid growth syndrome (RGS).

This syndrome, typically preceded by a cool weather period, causes sudden, vigorous growth that can lead to the crop’s inner leaves growing faster than the outer whorl leaves can unfurl. The result is often a high incidence of wrapped tassels — mature tassels still wrapped in the stalk’s upper leaves, which can trap pollen inside.

In most cases, the tassel eventually emerges, with pale inner leaves greening up shortly after sun exposure. But delayed pollen shed due to wrapped tassels can disrupt silk-pollen synchrony, leaving blank spots on the cob or unpollinated kernels.

Preventing Wrapped Tassels

While the urge to unwrap the tassel may be tempting, manual field intervention is not the answer. Tearing or manipulating the whorl can snap leaves, opening the door to pathogens just as disease pressure is ramping up.

A better path forward is more informed hybrid selection. Some corn hybrids seem to be more susceptible to tassel wrapping than others, but agronomists note the tendency is not brand specific. Hybrids bred for an upright leaf structure to maximize light-capture and planting density have a propensity to wrap. Because their leaves grow up rather than out, they can readily constrict the topmost whorl, catching the tassel as it tries to push through.

Hybrids with larger flag leaves or single-spike tassels are also more likely to get stuck during emergence. In contrast, open-pollinated varieties’ high genetic variability allows canopy shape and flowering windows to stagger naturally, making a field-wide, tassel-wrap takeover highly unlikely.

Splitting the planter between two high-performing hybrids across the rows, with similar relative maturities and different-but-equal traits, is a good way to mitigate tassel wrap risk. If one variety suffers from tight tassel wrap, the other is ready with a backup cloud of three- to five-million grains of pollen per plant to get the job done.

Scouting for Wrapped Tassels

When tassel wrap is suspected, agronomists advise growers to make a preliminary scouting pass during the R1-R2 silking stage followed by a second pass three to five days later. During these inspections, growers should look for twisted, bent or “buggy-whip” upper leaves shortly before tasseling.

Growers can also track pollination progress by gently husking a sample of ears to check for unpollinated kernels and conducting a shake test to see whether silks detach, which indicates pollination has occurred.

Lessons learned include the need for diversification and data-driven decisions:

  • A diverse variety of hybrids is a strong defense against mid-summer weather swings and events. Get out ahead of RGS, and don’t rely too heavily on a single genetic family across the operation.
  • Documentation throughout the growing season is crucial. Review the previous year’s field notes to see which hybrids and planting windows suffered the most leaf constriction and compare/contrast with insights for the upcoming season.
  • Because the warm, wet conditions that cause RGS can also trigger disease development, applying fungicide at tassel can help growers get a jumpstart on pathogens like tar spot and Southern rust and preserve yield potential.

by

When it comes to corn, weather is always a gamble. Even your best planned field can find itself at odds with the thermometer. You can’t control the weather, but you can prepare to recognize the signs of heat stress and act accordingly.

Recognizing Heat Stress

The optimal temperature for corn is 86 F; heat stress on corn can occur when that number is surpassed. The combination of hot days and warm nights leads to additional plant stress. If daily temperatures routinely are at or exceed 95 F, corn is likely experiencing the negative impacts of being too hot.

As you check fields, keep an eye out for heat stress:

  • Are your corn leaves dry and rolled up? This heat stress sign indicates that the plant is shrinking its surface area to reduce water loss.
  • Do you see yellowing and burning along corn leaf edges? In severe drought, leaves may experience discoloration and appear gray or tan.

How Corn Responds to Heat

Corn is a sensitive plant, and an increase of a few degrees can have a large effect on productivity. As it warms up, transpiration increases. This is the rate at which water evaporates from leaves. In addition to this, photosynthesis slows down. The plant closes stomates, the openings along the surface of the leaf, to preserve water. This action cuts carbon dioxide intake which is needed for photosynthesis, resulting in slowed plant growth.

High heat also increases the need for water, making the demand for soil water more intense to avoid added water stress. Vapor pressure deficit occurs between the saturated leaves and air, which pulls more water out of the plant. This process places a greater demand on the soil to restore moisture.

Heat Stress Impacts Corn Yield

Despite all that the corn plant does to protect itself from high temperatures, potential yield loss could still happen. If your crop experiences prolonged heat, developmental processes that are needed for higher yields may be interrupted.

When the temperature hits 95 F, pollen and silks begin to dry up and leaf growth starts to slow. At 100 F, pollination will fail. At 113 F, net photosynthesis is reduced by 50-90%. Corn will react to stress the most during pollination and fertilization. Potential yield losses can reach 3-8% per day during this four-to-five-week window.

As the temperature rises, these are the main ways heat stress impacts corn yield:

  • Kernel abortions take place when heat stress occurs at the same time as limited moisture. Kernels are usually aborted from the tip.
  • Kernel set reduces if heat stress occurs within the four-to-five-week window surrounding silking.
  • Ear size traits like diameter and length will shrink. Abnormalities like curved cobs or missing kernel rows can also occur.
  • Reproductive stages that occur during heat stress can lower final yields due to pollen and silks drying out.
  • Grain-fill time is shortened during high nighttime temperatures. The plant uses sugars meant for kernel fill for increased respiration instead.

Heat stress symptoms are intensified when they occur at the same time as drought. When this happens, the plant has a higher demand for soil moisture that goes unmet, further fueling the above symptoms.

Protect Yield During High Temperatures

It is safe to assume that heat stress will occur. If you see higher temperatures in the forecast, don’t fret. To help lower the impact of hot weather on yield potential, irrigate fields when extreme heat occurs.

Proactive management can also help protect future fields from intense heat stress symptoms. Focus on management strategies that conserve soil moisture like no-till or reduced-till to give crops the best chance during drought. High temperatures will impact corn plants less when there is adequate soil moisture. You can also choose hybrids that have strong stress tolerance and drought resistance traits.

Reducing other stressors like disease and pest threats will also help keep the plant hardier, including applying a fungicide like Miravis® Neo or Trivapro® fungicides to help offset some of the negative impacts of heat stress.

by

As margins tighten, markets shift and AI usage grows, growers and retailers are looking for digital farm management tools that will evolve along with them. Cropwise™ is designed to help users plan, monitor, manage and add value to their operation from one connected platform to address a variety of tasks and agronomic issues.

What Is Cropwise?

Cropwise is an integrated farm management technology platform that gives growers and retailers the tools needed to boost operational efficiency. This includes:

  • Simplifying data entry and sharing.
  • Supporting decisions throughout the growing season.
  • Connecting scouting, imagery, reporting, financials and sustainability.

Cropwise helps users spend less time managing disconnected data and more time acting on field-level insights.

How Does Cropwise Help Growers and Retailers?

''

Cropwise has a lot of useful features and is good for recordkeeping.

Jason H. Cropwise User

The suite of tools enables growers and retailers to:

  • Solve agronomic challenges and simplify decision-making throughout the season.
  • Reduce time spent on data entry by maintaining data year-over-year and using a single log-in for all integrated applications.
  • Maintain ownership and easily manage their data securely.
  • Help catch issues in the field and react to agronomic challenges quickly, potentially safeguarding their bottom lines.
  • Generate reports quickly and easily on financials, sustainability and more.

What Support Is Available for Cropwise Users?

Cropwise continues to improve with new tools, features, third-party integrations and partners. To help users with navigating updates and onboarding team members, Syngenta Digital support staff based in Murray, Kentucky, offers training sessions, demos and troubleshooting support to ensure all users have a positive experience.

How Do I Learn More About Cropwise?

Growers and retailers should contact their local Syngenta sales rep or AgriEdge® program specialist to learn more.

Reach out to the Syngenta Digital team at www.cropwise.com/us/contact-us to schedule a demo.

by

“Corn sweat,” the colorful shorthand for transpiration in corn, is generally a healthy, natural process. But under the right conditions, it can contribute to negative consequences.

What is Corn Sweat?

This process occurs when sunny days and high temperatures cause the corn plants to release water through their stomata, or pores, on the undersides of leaves. Stomata open to allow the plants to take in carbon dioxide (CO2), a crucial gas for photosynthesis, and to release oxygen and water vapor to cool them as temperatures rise. The process also delivers nutrients to plants as water rises up the stalks. During dry spells, the stomata close to retain water and protect yield.

Corn Sweat Contributes to Disease Spread

Evapotranspiration is the combination of plant transpiration plus evaporation from the acreage on which the crop grows. The extra moisture adds more heat to the environment, creating muggy days and nights that reduce a plant’s cooling ability. These steamy conditions are especially hospitable to fungal diseases, including Northern corn leaf blight, tar spot and rusts.

For the most part, corn sweat is a regional phenomenon, particularly impacting the Midwest and Ohio.

Preventing Disease Spread From Corn Sweat

To combat this condition, preventive fungicide applications are a good choice, especially when high daytime humidity is followed by cooler nights that bring heavy dew.

When to Start Scouting

Growers should start scouting for signs of disease from the V12 to V14 growth stages, especially if high heat and humidity have already set in. V16 to VT is the most crucial scouting window — earlier if tar spot is suspected. When disease is present, the optimal time for fungicide applications is VT to R1, particularly if lesions are found on 50% of plants. Growers should continue scouting at R2 to R3 for prolific fungi like tar spot and Southern rust. They should also prioritize fields with corn-on-corn, no-till practices or susceptible hybrids.

Preventing Excess Water Loss in Corn

As important as it is for cooling and supplying plant nutrients, transpiration equals water loss in plants — something growers can’t afford, especially in a particularly thirsty crop.

But Midwest growers have found Miravis® Neo fungicide can help both control diseases in the canopy and lower transpiration rates, conserving more water and nutrients, even in drought. With a three-active-ingredient-formulation — including azoxystrobin, propiconazole and ADEPIDYN® technology, Miravis Neo can help boost potential yield. Its plant-health benefits support efficiencies in plant photosynthesis, water and nutrient use, and stronger stands for improved harvestability and ROI potential.

by

Deane Jorgenson, Ph.D., set her sights on making an impact in agriculture. From the time she earned a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of California, Riverside, to the start of her career as a research scientist, Jorgenson knew her fresh thoughts and different perspectives would add to her drive to make decisions rooted in data.

Today, Jorgenson is a product lead for fungicides at Syngenta, and her career path is undeniably one of a person who has shaped agriculture for the better. But it’s also been one that has seen women take on a larger role in the industry.

“Early on, especially in crop protection R&D, there were few women, and even fewer in roles that directly influenced strategy or commercialization,” Jorgenson says. “As my career progressed into more commercial-facing roles, that gap became even more noticeable. It really reinforced why representation matters — not as a statement, but because it shapes how decisions get made.”

Women Gaining Momentum in the Ag Talent Pipeline

Women make up a bigger piece of the U.S. college student body than ever before. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, between 55% and 60% of bachelor’s degrees this decade have been awarded to women. That number exploded from around 35% in 1960 to about 50% in 1980 and has continued to climb steadily since then.

Agricultural programs mirror the general college population trends – and the gap is perhaps even more stark. A Purdue University report showed that 61% of bachelor’s degrees, 65% of master’s degrees and 53% of doctoral degrees awarded in FARNRE (food, agriculture, renewable natural resources and the environment) fields in 2023 went to women.

The trend extends beyond the classroom and into the actual agricultural workforce. According to USDA’s 2022 Census of Agriculture, there are about 1.2 million female producers in the country, accounting for 36% of all producers. The highest proportion of farms or ranches with at least one female producer is seen in the West and Northeast. Data from that same census shows that women producers are younger, more likely to be a beginning farmer, and more likely to live on the farm they operate than their male counterparts. More than half the country’s farms and ranches are at least partially operated by women.

Yet, while women are increasingly visible in the U.S. farming workforce, statistics from the census show that they remain underrepresented in the most influential positions. The latest census data shows that while 58% of U.S. farming operations had at least one female operator in 2022, women were the “principal producer” or the primary decision maker on only 22% of operations.

There’s More Than One Road to Success

Jorgenson believes there are innumerable opportunities for women to make their mark in ag, whether “principal producer” appears on their resume or not.

“There’s more than one way to build a career in agriculture,” she says. “You can start in research and still move into roles that shape how products are developed, positioned and used. That visibility can make a big difference early on [in a career].”

Jorgenson advises young women seeking an ag career to lean into their strengths and doors will open.

“I’m a Ph.D. trained entomologist, so I started firmly in research,” she says. “But over time, I’ve been able to apply that training in broader ways — across development, commercialization and now product marketing. Being a woman in this space has pushed me to be confident in my expertise and intentional about how I show up as a leader.”

As Jorgenson’s career took her from research and development and led her to more commercial-facing pursuits, she found that the meetings she attended usually had fewer women than she was used to. She followed her own advice, led with her strengths and trusted that she was put in those positions for a reason.

“Moving into technical development and later into marketing put me in rooms where deep scientific training wasn’t always the norm,” she recounts. “I learned quickly that being prepared, knowing the data and confidently connecting science to business outcomes went a long way. Being able to articulate scientific information to non-scientists has been a critical pillar for me.”

Even though Jorgenson’s career trajectory has taken her down a more corporate path, she vows to never abandon her scientific roots.

“I hope [women in agriculture] see that changing roles doesn’t mean leaving science behind,” she says. “My move from R&D to technical development, then into commercial marketing and now specialty fungicide product marketing has really been about expanding the impact of science — not stepping away from it.

“Early on [in my career], success was about generating strong data or answering specific research questions,” she continues. “Now, it’s more about influence: helping guide decisions, shaping product strategy, and making sure innovation gets translated and articulated into true benefits for growers.”

The Next Gen Finds Strength in Expertise

So, what does the future of agriculture look like? With the rise of AI and automation, higher levels of consumer interaction, and ever-changing tides in the sea of politics and trade, one thing is certain: For ag to succeed, the industry will need the best and brightest minds to make their voices heard and be willing to listen and learn from one another. Leadership may look different than it did only a few decades ago; the center of success lies in up-and-comers understanding their natural capabilities and nurturing new talents.

“Women often bring a strong ability to connect dots between science, agronomy and grower realities,” Jorgenson says. “In agriculture, leadership isn’t just about setting vision. It’s about execution, adaptability and collaboration; and having those strengths have made a real difference.”

Jorgenson advises young women to build a strong technical foundation but stay open to exploring different roles in ag.

“Some of the most valuable experiences come from stepping outside traditional paths and learning how science connects to real-world decisions,” she says. “If I could give my younger self advice, it would be, ‘Don’t wait as long to speak up; and never, ever take yourself off the top shelf just because someone can’t reach.’ Your expertise has value sooner than you think.”

Ultimately, agriculture will go where the best people take it. Jorgenson believes many of those best people are and will be women.

“Agriculture today is tackling big challenges — from sustainability and what that means to growers to resistance management,” she says. “That attracts people who want their work to matter. Bringing more women into the field strengthens innovation by bringing in various perspectives and problem solving approaches. Women in ag are shaping the future of food and farming in more collaborative ways than ever before.”

by

Does staring at the radar ever force one drop of rain from the sky? Of course not, but it probably doesn’t stop you from looking. In reality, the only things that really matter in the face of drought are your decisions — both those you make to protect your bottom line in the season and the ones you made in the past to make your farm as drought resilient as possible for your specific geography.

In-season Actions When Moisture Runs Short

As you consider ways to handle extremely dry weather, Farm Bureau Financial Services suggests implementing a few practices to mitigate risks in season. These practices do not boost yields or increase water efficiency but are key to helping protect your bottom line and defending crop yield.

First, be aware of the additional burden that heavy amounts dust and chaff place on farm equipment. Clean farm machinery frequently to avoid safety concerns, such as impaired visuals caused by dirty windows and lights. Keep an eye on air filters and change them as needed to avoid extra wear and tear on already strained equipment.

Second, manage storage areas carefully. Monitor grain bins for unusually heavy amounts of dust, dry material and high temperatures that could increase the risk of fires.

Finally, scout fields with an eye toward identifying those that would benefit from early harvest. As crops begin to fall, yield potential is reduced and stress on harvest equipment is increased. The order in which you harvest fields will directly impact how many bushels you harvest overall.

If you are looking for a more proactive strategy to strengthen crops in the field, then be sure you are applying fungicides that deliver proven plant-health benefits and make crops more drought resilient. Regardless of moisture conditions, improved plant health produces crops that better absorb light, conserve water and are more efficient to harvest. Fungicides that include ADEPIDYN® or SOLATENOL® technologies, such as Miravis® Neo or Trivapro® fungicides, are excellent ways to reduce transpiration in leaves, better retain moisture, and generally improve water and nutrient-use efficiency.

Jesse Grote, an agronomic service representative with Syngenta who covers the northwestern corner of Iowa, explains, “We have observed plant-health benefits even in the absence of really high disease pressure. Getting that protection and providing that plant-health benefit with a tassel application of a product such as Miravis Neo has contributed to strong ROI opportunities over the years across a range of conditions.”

A bar chart shows the average yield increases of Miravis Neo against untreated in trials across the Corn Belt in 2024, The overall average yield increase is 16 bu/A in dry conditions, with ~80% showing an increase of 9 bu/A or more and ~30 of locations showing an increase of 20 bu/A or more.

Introduce Soil and Tillage Practices Now for Upcoming Dry Years

If you find yourself in the (slightly) more enviable position of drought preparation a season or two ahead of time, then tillage practices and soil profile improvement are major factors in drought resiliency.

No‑till farming helps protect soil aggregates and preserve crop residues, both of which improve water infiltration into the soil and reduce surface evaporation.

Soil aggregates are the natural clumps that form in undisturbed soils. Made from sand, silt, clay, organic matter and microbial life, these clumps function like sponges, creating the space where rain and irrigation water can be held until needed by the crop. Not tilling fields leaves these soil aggregates intact, allowing the soil profile to retain more moisture after rain events.

Preserving crop residue simply means leaving post-harvest crop material on top of the soil after harvest. That residue acts as an evaporative barrier, shields topsoil from direct impacts of rainfall or irrigation droplets, contributes to organic matter as it breaks down, and slows runoff so water has more time to seep into the soil.

If no-till is not a viable option for your operation, consider strip-till or contour tillage. Strip-tilling will leave at least a portion of soil aggregates intact and strips of crop residue in place, providing proportional benefits to no-till in comparison with conventional tillage.

Contour tillage aligns tillage and planting patterns with a field’s natural contours, thereby creating small ridges, keeping rain where it falls and reducing runoff. This reduces erosion and increases water infiltration.

Cover crops are a relatively quick way to improve the soil profile. They add biomass, increase microbial activity and build more stable soil aggregates. Some cover crops, such as Daikon radish and cereal rye, even help break up compacted soils by driving their roots through compacted soil, building channels in the soil structure.

Tillage and cover cropping impact the amount of water that soils are able to capture, store and have available for crops when needed. These practices may not reveal their value in a single season; but given time, they help build fields that can better withstand drought.

Improve Irrigation for Future Drought Resilience

If the time and resources to install or upgrade irrigation systems are available, that is where most operations will see the greatest impact.

The backbone of a good irrigation system is a properly sized pipeline that delivers consistent pressure. When well designed, pipelines improve irrigation uniformity and simplify future further system upgrades.

Subsurface drip irrigation places emitters below the soil surface to supply moisture directly to the root zone. Water is readily accessible to crops, and evaporative losses are reduced.

To maximize the value of irrigation systems, growers need data. Soil moisture sensors, in conjunction with an understanding of water needs at various crop growth stages, simplify choices about when and how much to irrigate. Paired with flow meters and water pressure information, irrigation management goes from educated guesses to calculated, data-based decisions.

Whether you are deciding how to handle this year’s unexpectedly dry season, which practices will diminish the impact of future droughts, or how to construct irrigation that provides your fields maximum resiliency with or without rainfall, the decisions you make will have major impacts on your operation. Drought is unforgiving. Do your best not to need mercy.