Lafayette Online

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A Purdue agricultural economist expects Indiana farmland values to keep rising this year, continuing a trend that has seen them increase by 270 percent since 1985. Farmland increased in value by 12 percent last year. In June 2010, the average price for an acre of land in Indiana was $4,419. With [...]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — While recent rainy conditions have prevented farmers from using soil-applied herbicides, one Purdue Extension specialist reminds corn growers that many products can be applied postemergence. “Almost all chloroacetamide/atrazine premix products can be applied to emerged corn,” said weed scientist Bill Johnson.   But he also said growers need to take precautions [...]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. –- Purdue Extension’s 2011 Corn and Soybean Field Guide, a pocket-sized reference guide that allows farmers to quickly analyze troubled areas in their fields, is now available. The guide, updated annually, is filled with photographs and information to help diagnose and manage problems such as weeds, diseases and insects, said Corey Gerber, [...]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A new online calculator can show farmers where they might find energy savings as they dry their grain in drying systems. The Purdue Energy Estimator projects energy costs for in-bin and high-capacity grain dryers. The online resource was developed by researchers in Purdue’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. It is [...]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Chemical engineers at Purdue University have developed a new method to process agricultural waste and other biomass into biofuels, and they are proposing the creation of mobile processing plants that would rove the Midwest to produce the fuels. “What’s important is that you can process all kinds of available biomass — [...]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Although wet weather across Indiana has hampered fieldwork and raised questions about crop conditions, things may not be quite as bad as they seem. The “Indiana Crop and Weather Report,” issued June 28 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, shows 65 percent of the state’s corn crop [...]