Illinois Seed News
100-Year History Timeline
Our 100-year Illinois Crop Improvement Association history is now available online! The timeline focuses on the purpose and accomplishments of the Illinois Crop Improvement Association during its first century. We encourage you to share any stories, photos, or insights into the association’s history that you may have in your archives. We will continue to add […]
Filtering Guide for Lab Info System
Please contact Illinois Crop Improvement by email if you are interested in an API (Application Programming Interface) for direct delivery of test results to your system. If you have IT support or IT people on staff, you may be able to receive your results directly from the Lab Info system. Shoot us an email at […]
Saturated Cold Testing for Farmers
With the constraints of labor and timing, we will no longer be offering farmers the Saturated Cold Test. The Saturated Cold Test is one of the most labor-intensive tests we offer. It requires seed to be manually planted, embryo down, over a special grid, towel, and soil apparatus. The method does not represent a saturated […]
Puerto Rico Update
40 Inches of Rain Since Hurricane Fiona hit in late September, parts of Puerto Rico’s south coast have received over 40 inches of rain. Over 15 inches has fallen over the last two weeks. We have not been able to prepare land or plant during this time. While many projects are up and growing, we […]
Puerto Rico Update
As of today, Monday, October 3rd, all but two employees have power at home. We are still without power at the plaza/office area and will be replacing a power pole at our own expense to help facilitate the restoration process. We are not back to normal but will be communicating with customers regarding projects and […]
Hurricane Fiona
All staff are safe. Our station manager was able to make it to the farm this morning, Monday, September 19th. Access to the farm is limited due to the heavy rains, continuing rain, and standing water. But from the road we are not seeing major losses. The buildings and equipment are okay with some damage […]
Honorary Life Members
It was our honor and privilege to name two new Honorary Members during our recent 100th annual meeting, Dr. Brian Diers and Richard Denhart. Our bylaws state that the Illinois Crop Improvement Association’s Board of Directors has the authority to grant any individual an Honorary Member Life Membership. The bylaws go-on to say that this […]
Non-GMO Testing Update
Results from the Envirologix TotalTrait GMO Soy comb will now include a total GMO estimate value in the final report. This value is the total trait level of the four proteins evaluated in the test: CP4 EPSPS (RoundupReady), PAT/pat (LibertyLink), DMO (Dicamba), and 2mEPSPS (Balance GT/27). The Envirologix kit has shown to produce false-positive results […]
Looking Back – Drill Box Surveys
Drill Box Surveys The year is 1972, and Illinois Crop Improvement staff are conducting the soybean drill box survey initiated in 1965. The soybean survey was a cooperative venture of the University of Illinois Agriculture Extension Service, Illinois State Department of Agriculture Seed Control Division, Illinois County Farm Advisers, and Illinois Crop Improvement Association. While […]
Looking Forward to 2022
We are looking forward to 2022! There is a story behind why 2022 is the 100th annual meeting of the Illinois Crop Improvement Association. You can learn about the details of that story as you read on. February 23 IL-IN Seed Conditioning Workshop – Holiday Inn Champaign IL: On February 23 in Champaign, IL, please join […]
Supporting the Future
Illinois Seed Trade Association Golf Outing by Richard Denhart – Executive Secretary-Treasurer The Burlison Award is presented annually to an outstanding graduate student in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. As you are well aware the support mechanism for this important investment in our future has been canceled for […]
Purity and Identity Still Key
The Illinois Crop Improvement Association has had another successful year of providing essential services in support of agriculture. Our Puerto Rico based winter services provide critical data and seed to plant breeders and seed producers. The broader seed and grain industry relies on our laboratory services to make critical quality and processing decisions. In July […]
Confidence Building
Seed Lab Annual Report by Steve Beals – Director The lab continues to add to the accreditations of its staff. Brittany Whitsitt, RST, attended a Canadian Seed Grader Workshop training and testing session that was held in July 2019. Brittany passed all 6 seed categories and was granted accreditation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency administered […]
Continuous Change in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico Winter Farm Annual Report by Lizandro Perez – Station Manager Winter nursery services over the last few years have been very dynamic and challenging. Changes in customer requests, hurricane María, earthquakes and the pandemic have impacted our operations. We received an unusual amount of sorghum requests for the 2019-20 season. We were unable to accept all […]
Winter Farm Visitors
Puerto Rico Winter Farm Report by Lizandro Perez The Winter Farm has had several visitors starting with returning customers visiting their growouts and nurseries here in Puerto Rico. A few corn nurseries were planted relatively early this year resulting in two visitors in November ahead of the usual December and January. A group of north-central region […]
Healthy Fields
Field Services Annual Report by Matt Raymond – Director The Field Services department covers a broad range of seed and grain services. Under our various accreditations, we conduct field inspections for certification, phytosanitary, and weed-free forage programs during the growing season. After inspections end in autumn we move to the greenhouse and lab and spend our […]
Two Years After Maria
Puerto Rico Winter Farm Report – by Lizandro Perez, Station Manager Two years after Hurricane Maria and I can say that most things are back to normal with the exception of some families that are still using tarps on their roofs because they have not had the chance or the resources to fix their houses. Some […]
Quick Scan GMO Testing
Field Services Update by Matt Raymond Back in 2012 Illinois Crop Improvement purchased the QuickScan System from Envirologix. The QuickScan System is a lateral flow strip reader device that can provide quantitative results. The initial use of the QuickScan system was predominately for mycotoxin testing in our Identity Preserved Grain lab. In addition to the mycotoxin testing […]
Watch for Flags
Field Services Report by Matt Raymond, RGT – Field Services Director Phytosanitary Field Inspections IL Crop’s accreditation to perform phytosanitary field inspections is granted through the National Seed Health System (NSHS). To maintain our phytosanitary field inspection accreditation IL Crop must pass a NSHS re-accreditation audit of our inspection process every three years. NSHS audited our […]
Field Services Report Report
Field Services Report Report by Matt Raymond, RGT – Field Services Director The Field Services department serves two different aspects of the seed industry, field inspections and trait testing. During the traditional crop growing season field inspections compose the majority of the services. Traditional inspections provide an assessment of the purity of the field that is […]
Road to Recovery
Puerto Rico Winter Farm Report by Lizandro Perez – Station Manager 2018-19 was a good season for the farm. In terms of weather no storms affected the island. While part of the island had abnormally dry weather or moderate drought we received what we needed in the way of rains by late May. Most of the […]
Uncertain Times
These are uncertain times. So uncertain that I felt the need to return to one of my first Illinois Seed News articles as a new CEO. The article is titled “A Clear Foundation” and is now going on 8 years old. I found it comforting as we face a world suffering from COVID-19. I hope […]
Workshop March 11th
The 34th annual IL-IN Seed Conditioning Workshop will be March 11, 2020, in Urbana, Illinois. The day will kick off with Alan Gaul, Iowa State University, and A “Trip Through the Plant” – Air Screen, Sizing and Gravity. As always seed treatment topics are included along with plans for a panel discussion currently titled Seed […]
Treated Soybean Seed
It has come to our attention that farmers may still have treated soybean seed that was not planted this spring. First, treated seed must be handled and disposed of properly. Keep all treated seed out of the commodity grain channels. Visit http://www.seed-treatment-guide.com/ for more information on the disposal of treated seed. Second, soybean seed is not known […]
Heads-Up
During the past year the Puerto Rico farm business continued its recovery and added additional crops and services. Sunflower growouts returned in a big way, after taking a year off due to Hurricane Maria, helping the bottom line significantly. Spring grains, such as wheat and rye, also returned. Mung beans and dry beans were added […]
Seed Quality Update
Seed Lab Update by Steve Beals Corn germination results have been strong this testing season with an average of 95.6% across Illinois. The corn cold test averages are higher this testing season than last year at 93.4% across all regions. The average soybean germination for this testing season is 92.3% across all regions. Last year the […]
Fusarium in Wheat
Seed Lab Report by Steve Beals, RST – Seed Lab Director Fusarium Prevalent in the 2019 Wheat Production 2019 has proven to be a challenge this year with many of the cereal crops that have been sent into the seed lab for germination testing showing significant amounts of Fusarium. The severity of infection varies field by […]
No “Cure-All”
The IL Crop Seed Lab continues to grow in the number of samples and crop species tested during the past year. We anticipate the number of samples and species tested to grow over the next testing season. The IL Crop Seed Lab has been adding equipment and supplies as needed to handle increases in testing […]